The Last Aldern
by BeardyBob
Summary: Elladora Aldern's story is most curious. What's it like being the last of her family, the last Aldern? As Ellie grows up at Hogwarts, her life changes with new friends and heartache, finding out about her mysterious past, battles and a whirlpool of encounters. Not forgetting a large bittersweet problem in her life: The Marauders!
1. Saying goodbye

_To be honest, this is my first story and judging by other fan fictions I've read, I guess I need to say, that J K Rowling owns this story? I only own Ellie Aldern :) The story is kind of slow but it picks up by chapter 5, the first 4 chapters lead to getting to know Ellie and her past ect ect ect, so please stick with it! :) thank you for reading_

**The Last Aldern**

* * *

**Prologue**

_1978 ~_

"You might want to be careful Aldern; you're not very well liked at the moment"

"If you're trying to threaten me," she leant towards the boy and lowered her voice to a whisper "It's not working very well, I'm not scared of you"

"Yeah you are." He stood up and strolled towards the door "it's dangerous at the moment; Voldemort, the war, soon you won't have Hogwarts protecting you" his voice was harsh, "you don't want to go making enemies, especially now, when you don't have Sirius to defend you anymore." He turned back and smiled nastily, his grin dangerous and disturbing, "He hates you more than anyone."

* * *

**Chapter 1: Saying goodbye**

_1971 ~_

"Mum! I know, I know! I'll write, I promise"

"Oh Ellie, we're going to miss-"

"Miss me, yes I know" the small girl laughed "you've only mentioned it about 50 times!"

"Don't be cheeky" chuckled the man, presumably her father; however the brown haired girl didn't bear a resemblance to the 2 middle aged muggles standing before her.

She had waist length curly brown hair. They had scruffy blond hair. She had great big brown glittering eyes which held a slight charming quality and youthfulness. Their eyes showed fear and stress. They were obviously worried about sending their daughter away to a school for magic.

"Ellie, dear, how did that professor say you got onto –"

"Platform 9 3/4? I don't remember" Ellie glanced around at the sign for platform 9 and for platform 10, but no platform for 9 3/4, her eyebrows knitted as she tugged the ticket from her father's hands "must be somewhere…"

"Maybe…" Mrs Jaspers began but was cut short when a grand family waltzed over to the barriers between the 2 platforms, Mr Jaspers, concerned with the case on Ellie's trolley didn't look up, however this family caught the attention of the girl. They looked so regal, so powerful. So beautiful. The mother of the family glanced around with a look of disgust and walked into the wall. The wall? Ellie, made to shout out but the woman disappeared, they must be magical, Ellie thought, they must be! Unable to contain her happiness, she turned to her mother

"Mum, did you see that?" Ellie asked eagerly, receiving a look of surprise on the middle aged Mrs Jaspers

"Well, erm, I guess that's how you – er - get onto the platform. I assume, they look… magical" she whispered the last word and chuckled then stooped low to squeeze her daughter "go on, it's nearly 11"

This was real. Really very real, and now, just now, when she let go of her mother did she realise she was scared. She was going to miss them, her mum and dad, the only people that she could completely love and trust, she grabbed at her father, burying her face into his stomach "I love you" she sniffed

"Ahh, Ellie belly, we're going to miss you. I love you so much sweetie, but make sure you have fun, make friends. And study, don't get in too much trouble…and no boyfriends!" this caused the 3 to explode into giggles…

"oh shhh!" she smiled her delicate sweet smile and pulled her trolley from her fathers grip, and before turning to walk at the wall, waved and cheekily stuck out her tongue then mouthed 'I love you' before turning and jogging and disappearing through the wall.

**A/N: Not the best, but it is my first story, it does get better, I promise :) opinions welcome :)**


	2. New encounters

_This chapter is longer! This is where we meet everyone, yay! :) Sorry if it sounds like it's by a 10 year old but I got a tad carried away...oh well :')_

**New encounters**

The Platform surprisingly wasn't agonizingly busy, but Ellie was fully aware that she stuck out like a sore thumb; she was so out of place. Witches and wizards surrounded her hugging and cooing over their children. At that moment she wished her mum and dad were with her, but they didn't really know how to react to all of this 'magic stuff' as her dad liked to put it. She was aware that people were staring at her, probably because of the way she was looking around with such awe.

She pushed her trolley along the platform only stopping when she realised that the regal woman from earlier was standing in front of her with a curious gaze of what Ellie could only call a mixture of hate and interest.

"You're an Aldern aren't you?" her shrill voice was cold and bitter and before Ellie answered she looked up at the man obviously her husband and then down to the 2 boys standing behind. They were all so pretty. They all had the same stormy grey eyes, piercing and unnerving.

"Erm, hi! I'm Ellie" Ellie reached out her hand across the trolley

Ignoring the gesture the woman whipped her head around and looked at her husband "Aldern?"

Ellie only nodded timidly. Professor McGonagall had told Ellie that she was magic and that she got it from her parents.

This was 2 weeks ago; the same day that she found out she was actually adopted. That her muggle mother and father weren't not actually her birth parents, that she wasn't actually Ellie Jaspers, but Ellie Aldern.

The stern witch stated that at Hogwarts, her birth name would be used. Ellie Aldern. It still took some getting used to. Ellie Aldern. Ellie didn't care though. Mr and Mrs Jaspers, they were her mum and dad no matter what.

By the way this woman was staring at her, Ellie discovered that the Aldern's must be known in some way? But to be honest Ellie didn't know, she didn't really care either.

"I knew it!" the woman gasped "I'm Walburga Black and this is my husband Orion, my sons Regulus and Sirius" she gestured at the boys "well, It's great to finally see a pureblood here, all this mud bloods and muggles, but you understand don't you Miss Aldern, The school is infested with them" she whispered the last bit so venomously. This shocked Ellie. Her glittering brown eyes looked around and she smiled, she didn't care, she looked back to the newly identified Mrs Black, her black hair scraped up into a tight bun, her face was aged and looked as if she had smelt a pair of stinking socks but still attractive.

"Well actually, my parents are muggles, so I don't really see the problem. I don't know, I like diversity, I guess" Ellie smiled and shrugged, receiving a smirk from the older boy, his shaggy dark hair brushing his pale face. He was so handsome, but then again, so was the younger boy.

Mr and Mrs Black exchanged looks of distain then abruptly turned on Ellie. I guess that conversation is over, she thought to herself, fed up of the staring she began to turn and board the train, not before hearing Mrs Black screech at her family "- No! Sirius, don't you dare – I swear to God, if you –"

* * *

She found an empty compartment and stored her luggage away, not even 11 and she was already completely tired. The train lurched out of the station and before long they were rolling past hills and mountain, villages and roads, towns and baron landscapes.

Snatching a book from her bag, Ellie buried her face into it and after about 5 chapters of heroic ventures within the novel she heard a faint knock and looked up to see a smiling girl with the most intriguing eyes.

"Do you mind if we sit, we just escaped a compartment with the most obnoxious boys" she huffed and sat down, Ellie nodded timidly, hopefully she could make some friends, life would be so much easier if she had a best friend.

"I'm Lily, and this is Severus," she pushed her red hair from her face and glanced at the black haired boy next to her, he faintly smiled but it looked pained and tiresome

"Hi I'm Ellie, it's really nice to meet you!" she gushed realising she needed to dial down the enthusiasm. Well that's what she thought, but within minutes, Ellie and Lily were deep in conversation about muggles and Hogwarts and magic and books.

Lily was just as enthusiastic as her and determined to make new friends; Severus sat on the seat rigidly only commenting when it involved magic spells. "I know the perfect spell for that!" he smiled broadly "it's quite simple, don't worry, I'll help you both in potions, that will probably be my favourite" he smiled reassuringly, this comforted Ellie, she was grateful, he seemed quite nice.

"Lily, I hope you're in slytherin," he signed

She giggled "I know Sev, you keep saying that but really I don't see the –"her conversation was cut short as 4 boys tumbled into the compartment. Ellie recognised the shaggy haired boy. Sirius Black.

"What do you want!" Lily stood up and screamed at the boys, they must be those obnoxious boys.

"Calm down! We're hiding from some 5th years we may have upset by accident" Sirius grinned, obviously ecstatic with his annoyance

"Ahh, if it isn't Evans and Snivellus" chimed in a boy with black unruly hair and glasses

"Oh Potter! Why don't you just get lost!" she glared at him then turned her attention on a blond boy and a severely scarred boy, obvious he didn't want to be there "and if you two are here to be gits as well then you might as well LEAVE!" they started and Lily must have noticed her aggressive outburst "I'm sorry, that was rude, but these 2 have really bugged me, I'm Lily and this is Severus, you are?" the blond boy looked so frightened and gasped the words "Pete-p-peter" whilst the scarred boy took her outstretched hand and quietly said "Remus Lupin".

Ellie liked this Remus character, he looked humble, nice. I hope we become friends she thought. Happy to quietly watch from the corner as Lily and the Potter boy shouted at each other. Ellie thought they looked like a married couple and giggled. Big mistake.

"And who is this?" the potter boy stopped and looked at Ellie nastily; Sirius stopped laughing and glanced at her, then stopped smiling and looked at her curiously.

"Erm…"

Potter snickered and sat in between a newly seated Lily and Severus, whilst Sirius, Peter and Remus apprehensively took the remaining seats.

"Erm? Wow! That's a cool name" Potter laughed evilly

"well, no, it's…it's" she was so embarrassed, her pale cheeks lit up with red tones and heat but then she realised, she couldn't let someone make her feel small, no way! Not on the first day! "And what's your name then? Because if your first name is Potter, then that's highly unfortunate!" Ellie blushed – that was a rubbish insult she thought, but Lily giggled causing Ellie to smirk.

Potter was about to shout something back but for a third time that day the compartment door swung open revealing an older student of around 16, Ellie grabbed her book and hid behind it – meeting new people was so painful, she couldn't handle more...

* * *

"Oh my gosh, can you guys believe it!" the older girl gushed standing at the door "I have huge news!" she looked as if she had been desperate to share this information of hers, no doubt she had it memorised and was sharing it with all the compartments along the way, she looked like the gossip sort -

"Guess who's coming to Hogwarts this year! Elladora Aldern!" her face lit up, Ellie inwardly gasped. What!? Thousands of thought ran through her mind. How does she know my name? Why is that big news? What? What's wrong with me, I didn't do anything wrong! She slid down deeper in her seat, keeping the book to her nose, but noticed Sirius Black was casually glancing at her every now and then. Oh god…she thought.

"No way! No." Potter jumped up, obviously surprised

"Yes! Can you believe it, oh my gosh, I grew up hearing stories about the Aldern family, I never thought I'd actually see one come to Hogwarts, it's amazing, it really is." She didn't stop there, "and my friends have seen her and they say she looks exactly like an Aldern, you know, curly hair and…" the girl went on the speak more about this mystery girl, catching everyone's attentions, even Lily, a muggleborn was intrigued,

"So who is this Aldern then?" she asked casually

"You must be muggle born. Every witch and wizard in the world knows who the Aldern's are. They're one of the most prestigious families in the world – well, were. Pure and powerful!" the girl added then looked at Lily like it was an abomination that she didn't know about the Aldern's

"Yeah, and that Elladora is the last one" Potter piped up. Now this, this nugget of information caused Ellie to stop and listen intensively.

"What, the last one? What does that mean?"

"Well Evans, it means the LAST one, duh!" Potter mocked

"You know what I mean!" she bit back, looking up at him and glaring

"It means," the girl began "all the Aldern's were murdered years ago but for some reason they didn't kill Elladora, she has lived with muggles this whole time, apparently it's not so dangerous for her, but either way, she's now at Hogwarts!" the girl literally screamed, emphasising every word making it seem like a bloody pantomime. She near enough screeched the last bit and rushed out the room, probably to go and share this information with other people.

"Why were they murdered" asked Remus quietly, his eyebrows knitted together

"Dunno, apparently, these wizards from other fancy pureblood families didn't like the Aldern's all that much or whatever. It's actually said they're direct descendants of Godric Gryffindor himself!" Potter exclaimed causing Peter to gasp but also causing Severus to laugh nastily, "What? Don't believe me snivellus?" he barked

"That's it!" Lily jumped up, pulled up her friend and stormed out of the compartment. Leaving a now very shy and self conscience Ellie alone.

"Oh my God, no way" everyone left looked towards the door and saw the older girl from before nodding at the group of girls she was talking to.

That's it, Ellie thought.

She threw her book to the floor and stamped over to the compartment door, slammed it, pulled down the curtain and sighed. Someone coughed behind her. Oh damn, she remembered there were 4 people still there.

She whipped round and saw Potter staring at her with a perfect O shaped mouth, Sirius smirking, peter and his watery eyes wide and Remus with the most perplexed expression on his pale sickly face.

"No way!" Potter laughed, "oh, haha, oh! You're Elladora Aldern aren't you?" he pointed and looked triumphant "you have the hair and the eyes and – and, well you are aren't you?" he looked at Ellie expectantly

"Please call me Ellie" she whispered breathlessly then scurried back to the corner and picked up her book and tried to shrink into the seat attempting to ignore all 4 pairs of eyes on her…

"Well, it's nice to meet you! I'm James Potter! Wow, I can't believe you're actually real! My parents used to always talk about you and your family"

"Yeah, you're famous!" piped in a now confident peter

"Yeah well, you know more about me than I do, I guess…

**A/N: More Aldern info in coming chapters and maybe the beginning of the Sirius and Ellie clashing :) sorry if i made mistakes **


	3. Sorting new enemies

**Sorting new enemies**

Hogwarts had already caused Ellie to have a minor meltdown, it was beautiful and ancient and daunting. So when the heavy wooden doors thundered open to reveal a massive hall – candles floating and the glittering night sky, Ellie realised she was no longer in her muggle town but actually in a wondrous fairytale.

Four long tables stretched across the hall emitting a least a hundred people gawping at the new first years. As if this sorting wasn't scary enough!

A the first years slowly stepped along the hall towards the top, many older students nudged each other and talked energetically and urgently and pointed at an unfortunate boy with an abnormally large head. But all noise ceased when professor Dumbledore held up a hand and McGonagall pulled out a huge scroll -

"Aldern Elladora" that did it. That caused the entire hall to erupt with curiosity and gasps. People nudged their friends and shouted things across the tables "ha! Told you Edwards!" "Oh my god! Aldern, no way!" "what?" and various expressions ranging from amazement to detestation. The noise only slightly subsided as Ellie made her way up the stool with the old hat. Why did she have to be the first one? She turned on the spot; eyes closed, lowered herself onto the stool, felt the hat touch her head and then tore open her eyes to look out at the sea of intrigued students.

_"AH! An Aldern! Well this is very easy, yes, very easy indeed. We all know where the Aldern's go, where they belong. And my, my, my, pity about your mother and father, they were very talented, shame they're gone_" the hat cheerily spoke, unaware that Ellie was desperate to sit down, away from all this painful attention.

_"Yes very easy! It'll have to be…GRYIFFINDOR!"_ Ellie sighed with relief as the hat was snatched from her head, the hall exploded from cheers from the Gryffindor table but cat calls from the slytherins.

But Ellie didn't care, she skipped down to the table and sat gracefully down, ignoring the persistent stares, she collected her long curls in a side pony tail and let it trail down one of her shoulders, she sighed dreamily again. That wasn't so painful, she rubbed her eyes and began to carry on taking in her surroundings as she could hear various names being called and tables cheering

"Bell Jessica…_RAVENCLAW!"_

"Bingham Robert…_HUFFLEPUFF!"_

"Black Sirius…" the students sitting next to Ellie began to talk amongst themselves, "oh isn't he a little cutie, oh my god, he's going to be so hot when he's older" they giggled, Ellie, rolled her eyes in repulsion – girls!

_"GRYFFINDOR_!" the hall went silent then whisperings began, shouts from a couple of scary looking slytherins, Sirius swaggered down and sat next to Ellie, he smirked at her than chuckled quietly to himself…

* * *

"But the last one? How can you be the last one, it doesn't really make sense does it?" Lily thought aloud pushing hair from her eyes, something Ellie noticed she done A LOT!

"Lily, look, I have no idea, I don't know what it means…" they climbed up what felt like the millionth step

"It's just confusing and quite sad, aren't you sad? I mean, you don't know anything about your life and everyone else does"

"I know, but it'll die down, I can't be big news forever, right?" Ellie's frustration was growing, the constant stares were getting tiresome and they hadn't even reached the common room yet! The first night and already people were judging…

"I guess, but you are going to find out about the Aldern's aren't you?" Lily grinned then elbowed Ellie "I'll help!"

Ellie smiled but felt queasy, does she want to know? "I don't know, maybe, but at the moment, I just want to get to our dorm. And sleep!" they both giggled and came to a halt behind the rest of the new Gryffindors; they faintly heard that the password was flobberworm, what on earth is a flobberworm?

* * *

"I know, who the hell does she think she is? Seriously, I already hate her, she's just…" a conversation abruptly stopped as Ellie and Lily emerged into a crowded common room.

The room was full of orange light from a burning fire and portraits covered the walls, a short knight stood in the corner shouting words at a couple of alarmed girls, older students lounged on the chairs gossiping and discussing summer whilst many departed to the dorms, the first years were scattered around the room, over excited and chatting away.

Ellie felt completely embarrassed as she received glares from a fellow first year she recognised as Katherine Lloyd…her face was full of scorn, so powerful it made Ellie shudder, lower her pink face and make for the stairs.

"Ah Elladora?" Ellie heard a mocking voice and turned round, it was Sirius Black, she inwardly sighed, thank god it was someone she knew at least a little bit

"Hi!" Ellie smiled

"I know it's early, but me and the girls over there made a bet" he pointed his thumb to a group containing Katherine Lloyd and various other faces, James Potter grinning close by "about how long it will take for you to cry and leave Hogwarts"

"Excuse me?" Ellie was honestly confused

"That's very petty, Black, you sound like an 8 year old" Lily jumped in and glowered at him, it was obvious she detested Black and Potter, and to be honest, Ellie felt herself going down the same road

"yeah, see we're all hoping you'll do one, you know, get lost" Ellie glanced over at the other first years, some smiling sweetly and others sending death glares, Sirius turned on the spot dramatically and swaggered over to Potter, turned back to Ellie and Lily and sneered

"oh and you do realise you have food all around your mouth, don't you? Really, it's quite unattractive" this resulted in the girls snickering and potter giving Ellie a 'jolly' thumbs up, clearly loving the pathetic torment.

Immediately her hand flew to her face then whipped round and stormed up the stairs, reaching the first year girls dorms, Ellie slammed the dormitory door on a sympathetic Lily

"Sorry," she muttered as Lily apprehensively opened the door again "I didn't mean to slam it in your face"

"It's fine, but what on earth was that about?" the petite red head sat on the end of her new 4 poster bed smiling at her surroundings before turning back to the annoyed Ellie

"I don't know! I haven't done anything to Sirius Black or anyone, I actually thought we could be mates, I don't know, he seemed alright"

"Ellie, he's mates with Potter, they're both obnoxious and so sure of themselves, I've known them for, what? For like 9 hours and I can already tell they're going to be unfortunate house mates" she grimaced at the thought of the 2 boys creating havoc for them

But, the thing is, Ellie thought to herself, I don't know Sirius Black or James Potter or anyone, I don't understand all of this magic stuff, and I don't really think I'm going to look forward to being the subject of 'bets' or teasing or gossiping.

First day and she was already drained and emotional and annoyed at a certain Mr Black.

**A/N – Okay, so I know it's a little slow, but we need to build up, it does get better by chapter 5 :) thanks for reading!**


	4. Who am I?

**Who am I?**

"LIQUORICE WANDS!" Ellie literally screamed at the stone gargoyle that was lazily staring at the annoyed girl then after a tiny delay it jumped aside and allowed her through. Ellie jogged up the stairs and hammered on the door, but immediately regretted it as it swung open revealing Remus Lupin and professor Dumbledore conversing

"Ellie" Remus nodded before hurrying out of the door

"Oh no, wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to –"

"Miss Aldern, it's quite alright, Mr Lupin and I had finished," he gestured for Ellie to enter his office, she slipped in and heard the door close behind her

"Miss Aldern, what, may I ask, has got you so flustered?" he sat at his desk and pressed his hands together, there was something so composed and reassuring in his voice, almost making Ellie calm down, but she collected her emotions and remembered why she was there

"I need to ask a question"

"And Professor McGonagall couldn't answer this inquiry?"

"Well no, I, well, she scares me… and anyway, this is really important, like very important" she added urgently but noticed his mouth turn upwards, the idea of McGonagall scaring students clearly amused him

"Then ask away."

"I," she stopped, after all the shouting with Sirius Black, she hadn't really thought about a sensible question.

Potter and Black were the only reason she was here, they angered her so much, with their mocking, she needed to find out what everyone else knew. And the truth, not silly stories that had plagued her for the last couple of months of first year. Ellie had taken her seat in charms that morning, happy. She adored making butterflies and flowers erupt from her wand and loved switching colours of objects and most of all, she loved the incantations – they were pretty and poetic and reinforced the reality that she was at a school of magic. But her serenity was ruined with the presence of Potter, Black and Pettigrew snickering and sneakily hexing her. After lesson they all made their way to the great hall for lunch but the journey consisted of Ellie and Sirius shrieking at each other, she had it, she stormed up to Dumbledore to find out the truth.

She hated Black ever since his mean jabs at her on the first day, ever since they both enjoyed arguing and bewitching.

Her mind swam with possible questions and theories but then settled for "Who am I?" the very question she blurted out sounded so childish, pathetic, embarrassing, but it pretty well summed up what she was thinking

"I mean, who am I, what is wrong with me? The Aldern's? No one is telling me anything and," she halted, giving Dumbledore a chance to answer, he didn't. So she continued clumsily "Everyone 'knows' Elladora Aldern, supposedly anyway, but I don't!"

"Miss Aldern, I'm afraid with all the excitement of your arrival to Hogwarts, stories have been travelling, I'm sure you've heard many about your ancestors, all different?"

Ellie didn't reply, she just wanted to hurry up and find out what was going on.

He continued. "Put simply, you were born Elladora Aldern, the Aldern's were an extremely influential family, very pure and very proud, and they were very similar in that way to the house of Black"

"As in Mrs Walburga Black" she scoffed, "and Sirius Black" she rolled her eyes, "I'd rather be Ellie Jaspers thanks." she muttered angrily some more about Sirius Bloody Black before Dumbledore chuckled.

"The Black family are known for radical opinions about blood status, yes they're very pure, like the Aldern's, but the Aldern's were not so obsessed, they were tolerant, but did make many enemies"

"So, what, some bloke decided to hack of their heads, to what, show their own 'power' over the noble Aldern's" her sarcasm was painfully tacky but she didn't care whatsoever

"Yes."

"Excuse me?" she was taken aback, surprise wasn't the correct word, Ellie was only joking, she didn't expect Dumbledore to be that blunt.

"The Aldern's made enemies, they were rich, pure, powerful, and very strong of course, put up a good fight, but in the end, their rivals grew to be too strong, many of your aunts and uncles and cousins were killed, well," he stopped, then looked at her dead in the eye and gravely interjected "they all were."

"You're kidding right? I mean this whole 'the last Aldern' rubbish isn't true, it's silly"

"Your parents were killed, you were already adopted by Mr and Mrs Jaspers, you were safe, and anyway, a baby was no threat. So yes I'm afraid you are, for the lack of a better phrase, the last one" he raised his eyebrows, showing he agreed with Ellie about the stupid name she received over the years which was circulating in the wizarding world.

So, she got the answer she wanted, but there was still something gnawing at her frazzled brain – "but why does everyone hate me, you know, for being Ellie Aldern"

He sighed, "Miss Aldern, I'm afraid I cannot answer that question, the human race is very odd, maybe they feel threatened or jealous, but either way, it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from. Don't let people get to you. From what I hear from the other professors you're doing extremely well in class and have plenty of friends" he smiled, somehow it indicated the conversation was over, all her anger and frustration had finally slipped away, and she was satisfied, she rose and strolled to the door

"Thank you professor Dumbledore"

"Oh and Ellie, maybe you should refrain from hexing Mr Black and Mr potter in class, it'll cause Gryffindor to lose house points, we don't want that now do we" he winked and Ellie let out a huge laugh, the memories of a blue gooey substance flowing from Potter and Black's noses, ears and mouth swam into view. Ah, history of magic was a fun lesson – always something new.

"But sir, I'm only showing my natural magical abilities" she replied sweetly before waving and quietly closing the door, she swore she could hear Dumbledore laugh some more. She smiled then made her way back to the great hall. Maybe Black had left and they wouldn't resume their screaming match.

**A/N: This chapter isn't the best and sounds kind of silly but Ellie needs to know some things…Last chapter of them in first year by the way. I personally prefer stories when they're in like 5/6****th**** year…but..yeah! :)**


	5. Reflections of a crappy day

Kind of jumpy, but they're all in 5th year now :)

** Reflections of a crappy day**

"You're such an arse!"

"Oh calm down Elladora!"

"Stop calling me that, you obnoxious little slimeball" She whipped around and glared at the smirking boy before her. He kept calling after her so finally turned to kindly tell him to piss off! He had shot up over the summer, he made her feel very self conscious, he had black messy hair that flopped into his grey eyes, they were piercing, just like they were on platform 9 ¾ back in first year when they first met. They were now in fifth year and his good looks somehow improved further. If that were even possible.

"Ah, Elladora, why did you leave so fast?" he leaned against the heavy wooden doors, blocking her entrance to the castle. She ran up here trying to get rid of the Marauders but he was faster and more athletic, damn his sporty-ness, Ellie thought whilst trying to manoeuvre around him.

The bloody Marauders! They were going to be the death of her. They were conceited and mean and intimidating and just horrible. Well Potter and Black definitely were. Remus wasn't, he was still a 'famous Marauder', fairly good looking like the 2 previously mentioned but nice. He was the kind one that told his mates to shut it when he could see their vicious jokes and jabs at Ellie and Lily were going too far. The 4th marauder however, Peter Pettigrew, was neither nasty nor friendly, he was shy and took pride in egging on Potter and Black. But altogether they were the marauders and they were completely and utterly intimidating, even to Ellie who had known them for ages.

"Can you please get lost, Black…MOVE! I really don't want to talk to you right now" She shoved him but he didn't even waver

"Now now Elladora, I know you want to touch me but please, not in public, maybe later tonight if I'm free" He leaned over to whisper the last bit into Ellie's ear, she shuddered, his breath tickled but she was also repulsed by his obnoxious flirting.

"HA, Black, I think you'd have better chance with the giant squid" she smiled sweetly then pushed him aside, caught off guard, he moved but then continued to follow her into the entrance hall

"Why did you do that in Hogsmeade, you should have left me alone."

"In case it's slipping you mind, Black, you started it all, why would I just let you throw your weight around?"

"Na, you just can't help falling for me every time you see me"

"Oh, yes, that is very much the truth!"

Taking 2 steps at a time, Ellie charged up the stairs toward the common room, he was really grating on her, it wasn't even proper flirting, he was just being mean, like he always was to her.

They stopped outside of the portrait

"You are a complete arse, I left because you're cruel and repulsive, the way you spoke to Severus was appalling! And the way you hit on those innocent girls, they fell for it completely, and you know you're only going to hurt them and I can't even believe what you did to your brother, Your BROTHER!" she spat out these words like they were diseased, her hatred for him was honestly growing each second.

"Okay number one, Snape is a greasy shit, second I don't give a crap about silly little third years, and guess what Aldern, I really don't give a shit what you think!" his mood changed within seconds, his handsome face became distorted, it bore the expression of disgust, he was still beautiful but looked scary and evil. "Don't think you can talk to me about my brother"

"Oh so he is your brother, then. Really? Because the way you threw him into the air then hexed him into oblivion makes me wonder, you know" the short brunette shot the password at the portrait and strutted through.

Sirius grabbed her arm, it actually hurt but Ellie wasn't going to wince or show weakness, "you have no idea about me and Regulus. So why don't you shut it and stay out of it"

He let go of her arm and shoved her through the portrait hole

"Do you mind!" she rose after tripping and landing face first on the red carpet.

"Not really Elladora" he chuckled – what the hell was wrong with this boy? Back to Elladora? He had more mood swings than a hormonal teenage girl. Before she could respond with a clever insult he left, he moved up the dormitory stairs gracefully and Ellie couldn't help feel relieved: he was awful.

The emotions of that day swam in her mind, she was tired and annoyed and -

* * *

"Ergh! Please tell me Sirius Black isn't flirting with a skank like you?" a shrill voice appeared but Ellie didn't need to turn to find out who it was. It was Katherine Lloyd, her nasally voice gave it away, it was high and painful to hear.

"because really, he shouldn't lower himself to you," she paused, as if she were thinking, don't know how, she hasn't got a brain, Ellie thought "I don't know why I'm worrying, he's taking me to Hogsmeade next Saturday, he's mine."

"wow, Katherine, that sounds so wonderful, he's 'yours', cool, you know I'm used to women being objectified but not the almighty Sirius Black" Ellie turned and saw the long legs that went on for miles, tanned and in an extremely short skirt, her tight top clung to her body and there was no denying it, Katherine was gorgeous. Ellie shared a dorm with Katherine since first year, also with Lily and 3 others but didn't grow to love her, grew to hate her. She stepped closer to Ellie and flicked her long straight blonde hair,

"Look, honey, you may be an Aldern but you've got nothing on any of the girls in this school, even Nancy Faucet from Ravenclaw is more attractive –" she grinned "you're dumpy and that face, Jesus Christ!" She smiled then walked off towards the portrait hole, Ellie didn't reply – both girls knew those comments had got to her.

* * *

Evil cow, bloody bitch, slaggy whore! Ellie thought of multiple and worse insults as she tore into her room, Ellie had always been painfully conscience with the way she looked. And she had been insulted too many times that day.

Ellie looked in the mirror, the reflection wasn't the ugliest, sure she wasn't a gorgeous blond like Katherine or didn't have Lily's Green eyes and perfect hair but she had nice eyes and a contagious smile. She smiled into the mirror but let it fade away. In any other situation Ellie would admire her smile, it was her best feature - fun and carefree, and it was large and welcoming and cheeky. Her cheeks dimpled when she smiled and her eyes twinkled more. She smiled again at the thought of Katherine and Sirius getting injured in some way whilst at Hogsmeade, they were both rude and conceited, actually a pretty perfect couple.

**A/N: thanks for reading, in following chapters, Ellie's sarcastic/cheeky personality comes out more and there is more marauder angst YAY :) sorry if there's mistakes, you can tell me**


	6. The Hogsmeade fiasco

**Hey, so this chapter is what happened in Hogsmeade that caused Ellie and Sirius to argue, in case it's confusing. Basically I'm back tracking...**

** 'The Hogsmeade fiasco'**

_Earlier that day_

"Oi Aldern!" Ellie turned to see the owner of the voice, it was none other than Dylan Baker, the insanely good looking Ravenclaw quidditch team captain, oh he was so gorgeous, the subject of many of Ellie and her friends discussions "I like your hair like that!" he shouted then walked into zonko's. Ellie blushed and smiled at Marlene next to her who nudged her in the side

"What's going on" Lily appeared holding boxes of new quills "why are we giggling?"

"Mr Dylan Baker just complimented Ellie's hair" Marlene gushed

Lily's eyes lit up and she grinned broadly "I knew your hair would look nice straight!" It had been Lily's idea to straighten her signature curls or the 'Aldern Curls' it was still the muddy brown colour but ten times longer and Ellie loved it!

"Ah, Lily flower, you are a smart gal" Ellie winked at the red head

"I hate when you call me that!" she replied shortly causing Marlene and Ellie to collapse in giggles.

"Guys, I got to go, I promised I'd meet Frank, he wants to 'woo' Alice, oh God, they're going to be such a cute couple

"More like unbearable"

"Ell, must you be cynical" Ellie poked her tongue out at Marlene who shoved her then skipped off, Marlene was so good with people, Ellie was quite jealous, she was the opposite - kind of shy and socially awkward. Ellie and Lily made for the three broomsticks but came to a halt when they saw the bloody marauders outside chatting to a bunch of third year girls.

"Let's leave it, we can get butterbeer at dinner" Lily murmured, she was struggling with her bags, for such a small village, Hogsmeade did have really interesting shops and it looked as if dearest Lily had bought most of the contents.

* * *

The girls made to leave but heard Remus call after them "Ellie! I like your hair!" she turned around to smile, she was grateful, he really was the kind one

"Wow Aldern, it looks, er, different" Potter appeared next to Remus, he smirked then gazed lovingly at Lily

"Different? Potter, it looks beautiful! But then again Ellie belly is gorgeous anyway" Lily jumped in and smiled sweetly at Ellie but was kicked by the embarrassed brunette, Ellie whispered for her to shut up, Lily made to argue but -

"I like it, it's nice" Remus reassured

"thank you" Ellie was suddenly so uncomfortable but luckily all attention was taken from her and turned to Sirius and the third year girls who were screaming with laughter, he was disgusting – trying to seduce stupid girls, they couldn't help falling for his 'bad boy rebel' personality, Ellie personally didn't see it, she shook her head as a girl with big blue eyes squealed and hugged him quickly then ran away.

Sirius turned to the group of fifth years and grinned. It was truly sickly, he swaggered over and high fived James "haha! They're totally up for a quick snog…record timing too"

Ellie scoffed, big mistake, Sirius rounded on her, he looked her up and down and smiled, Ellie was aware that she had definitely 'grown up' over summer, but his lingering on her chest was completely offending

"You're disgusting!" she crossed her arms and then threw him the dirtiest look she could muster.

"Elladora, you just wish you had my skills, I've seen you obsessing over Baker, wish you could get him don't you – bad luck I'm afraid he wouldn't go for someone like _you, _you're not exactly …" he stopped but the damage was done, Ellie knew perfectly well what he was going to say

"Mate, that's bang out of order" Remus breathed calmly

"Oh shut it moony"

The atmosphere was kind of awkward and Peter just randomly started tittering

"What's up with you wormy?" James asked patting him on the head, Lily and Ellie made to leave but realised what Peter was laughing about, Severus was making his way up to the three broomsticks with a bunch of slytherins, including Regulus Black, Sirius' younger brother. He was in third year and this must've been one of his first trips into Hogsmeade after Christmas. Lily stopped and glanced behind her, she saw that James sniggered as Sirius greeted the new arrivals

"Aww, Snivellus and little Reggie"

"Shut up Black!" Lily growled at him, Sirius just laughed but James stared at her. He was obviously caught between his best friend and his crush, but James Potter couldn't pass up an opportunity to harass Snape and Regulus.

Ellie had several conversations with the younger Black over the years, he wasn't as bad as everyone thought, he wasn't completely evil, well not to Ellie anyway, although there had been a few times Ellie could've punched him. But maybe Mrs Black had told him to respect her more; she was an Aldern after all. But yes, Regulus wasn't the worst, he was a spitting image of Sirius but he seemed to be skinner and had pale translucent skin, he was extremely attractive, Ellie thought back to when she had met him when he must have been 8 or 9, he was cute, now he was handsome. He used to speak about muggle cameras a lot, Ellie gave him one during his first year, he was obsessed, but Sirius revealed that during the summer their mother has smashed it 'disgusting muggle contraptions' and what not. He stopped talking to Ellie about anything related to muggles after that and stuck with school and ancestry.

"Potter, please control your boyfriend" Snape leered

"Snape, please don't address me, your hair offends me…" James shouted causing Lily to protest further, Ellie decided it would be best if the 2 girls were to stay out of this, she had a funny idea that there were going to be a couple of curses flying around. Ellie pulled Lily backwards and watched the 4 marauders step forward, Peter jumping around excitedly and Sirius shouting extreme comments to Snape. Remus began pulling James back trying to reason with them

"This is pathetic, leave it, they didn't do anything"

"Oh but they did moony, they live, that's what's wrong" James snapped

"Brother, why must you be petty, mother already despises you, do you really think she's going to love you more if you get thrown out of Hogwarts" Regulus stepped in and mocked

Sirius pulled out his wand and threw a curse, it happened extremely fast and Ellie was unaware of what curse it was, but saw the younger boy fly into the air and then crash to the floor, blood spewing from his lip. He looked up in shock, first to his brother then to Ellie, she didn't know what to do, she didn't know if she should hit Sirius or run to Regulus or…or.

But before she could decide what to do curses were flying everywhere, they weren't particularly harmful, just turning faces spotty and hair orange, it would've been quite funny from an outsider's view which probably suggests the shoppers and other Hogwarts students stopping and staring. Remus, initially against the attack on slytherins, soon forgot about his morals and flew jelly leg curses at the people trying to harm is friends. James was insulting Snape and hitting him with a bat bogey hex, Lily was in hysterics.

"STOP IT!" Ellie shouted but no one listened, she stormed over to Sirius and whacked him round the head with her bag, then pointed her wand at Roiser's face "STOP it!" she repeated. There were only the 4 marauders and 5 slytherins but if felt like more eyes on her. Sirius just gawped at her in shock

"This is childish!" They all looked around at each other and Snape skulked off with Roiser and the other slytherins, Lily running after them with her bags calling for Snape, some how Ellie knew Snape really didn't want Lily on his back right now.

Ellie stayed and watched the other students retreat back into the pub and Zonkos however Regulus lingered and just stared at his brother

"Yeah you can piss off now before I punch you in the face you insufferable little shit"

"Surprised you know what insufferable means" Regulus sneered

"Levicorpus" Sirius simply said, the calm tone in his voice was unnerving, the younger boy flew into the air, blood from his face dripping onto the cobble pavement

"Come on boys, fancy some food, Honeydukes? I'll pay" Potter just casually brushed the entire encounter off, he looked gutted when Lily left after Snape, 3 marauders sauntered off but Sirius stayed. Ellie spoke the counter spell which caused Regulus to fall to the ground with a thud.

Ellie was disgusted with the pathetic encounter she witnessed and annoyed with the arrogance of the Marauders and the ignorance of the slytherins. She felt bad about not doing anything and felt frustrated about the entire day. The feeling of Dylan Baker complimenting her felt like ages ago and it seemed pointless now. She looked at Sirius and Regulus with a mixture of fear and exasperation then turned abruptly and walked off, as soon as she turned the corner away from their view, she broke out into a run. And ran for the castle.

** A/N: Thanks for reading, if there's any mistakes or whatever, feel free to complain to me :) [be kind though please :) ]**


	7. Potions

**Potions **

The potions classroom was stuffy and crowded, they were all working in groups that day and it actually meant having to speak to people. Ellie hated this and hated her group. Slughorn decided to split up the marauders as well as friends; this automatically made him a subject of ridicule. Lily was with 2 hufflepuffs and Sirius Black, poor girl. Ellie glanced around the room and became increasingly jealous of Katherine Lloyd who managed to be with 2 of her friends, she probably smiled that evil sweetly sick beam to get her way.

And Ellie was stuck with James Potter, a Hufflepuff girl that was painfully shy, Dorcas something, a Ravenclaw girl that near enough broke down in tears when James asked her to pass the frog eyes, and last of all Severus, he wasn't that bad, they were friends but he and Lily were more friendly, she was the only reason they even spoke to each other. And when they did speak it was only to exchange pleasantries and ask about homework. Also after the Hogsmeade fiasco, the atmosphere was still slightly raw and made the group even more painful.

"Sev, do we add the porcupine quills first" Ellie asked holding the book at arms length and squinting at the unhelpful instructions

"No, Ellie, I told you, that will blow up the entire dungeon!"

"Wicked!" piped in Potter when he heard that

"No, don't you get any ideas!" Ellie wagged an accusing finger at him; he just winked and continued to flirt with the Ravenclaw

"So Severus, are you getting Lily anything for Easter?" Ellie made small conversation and noticed James turn his head ever so slightly at the mention of Lily

"Erm, I don't really know…just…yet" it was obvious Severus was uncomfortable discussing this in front of Potter

"Wow Snape, I'm surprised you can afford to buy anything! So Ells what do you recommend I buy dearest Lily?" James had his full blown attention on Ellie at that moment, his glasses lopsided and his grin was cheeky and friendly, for once Ellie didn't actually feel repulsed or insulted by him.

Ellie acknowledged Snape glaring and chopping his dried slugs rather aggressively

"Potter, you don't honestly think I'd even help you talk to Lily, never mind harass her at Easter, you already bugged her at Christmas!" she pointed her knife at him, smiling

"Ah Ells, I'm wounded" he placed a hand over his heart faking a faint "you wouldn't help a friend?"

"Oh no, I would, but that's something I don't consider you to be"

He laughed extremely loud and caused Sirius to call "Calm down prongs don't have a heart attack!"

"Piss off padfoot do your work" he threw a bezoar at Sirius and turned back to the table

"Maybe you should take your own advice Potter!" snarled Snape

"Excuse me?" are you, are you actually talking to me Snivellus?" James actually seemed shocked "if you think you can even talk to me Sniv-"

"James!" Ellie shot at him warningly. James actually stopped, it was probably because Ellie never called him by his first name, but whatever it was, he piped down.

Professor Slughorn flitted around gasping and groaning peering into cauldrons all around the room, he suddenly appeared at Ellie's side "Mr Snape, perfection as usual, but remember we're merging all of your potions, you all have to be up to scratch!" miss Ravenclaw rolled her eyes "ah, Miss Murray, not the best I must admit…ooh! Oh Dorcas, this is amazing!" he turned his bulky back on the failing Ravenclaw and turned to Dorcas, the Hufflepuff, she was fairly nice and evidently amazing at potions.

"Mr Potter, yes, yes that's good," he bobbed his head above the sweet smelling odour occurring in James' cauldron, Slughorn then turned to Ellie's and grimaced then strutted away

"Oh no, professor, don't be too overjoyed" Ellie muttered under breath then glanced in her cauldron – it wasn't that bad!

"Aldern, that is probably the worst potion I've ever seen, and I've worked with wormtail!" James chuckled then resumed his conversation with Murray, again.

Ellie smiled sarcastically then got up to get a new cauldron from the cupboard, the cupboard was small and dank and smelt funny, she grabbed a cauldron and turned to leave but heard someone clear their throat – Sirius Black, God, he was everywhere! She turned round to see him in the corner holding a can of porcupine quills and smirking "Elladora, really? We don't want you failing" he put the can down and took the cauldron from her hands then replaced it with a brass one "This one works better"

"You've bewitched it haven't you?" she held the new cauldron and stared at him

"I'm not that petty" he looked annoyed

"Oh please, you've had it in for me since first year, you've never thought twice about hexing or bewitching me before"

"I'm only trying to help! I'm good at potions, just thought you could do with some advice, Jesus, Ellie"

"Sorry. Erm, thanks," she briefly smiled, maybe she was a bit harsh, but this was Sirius, she couldn't put anything past him…She smiled then turned round at the door to face the class, she focused her gaze on Lily scribbling away but quickly stopped as she felt hands on her waist as Sirius tried to move around her, he whispered in her ear "excuse me Elladora" with a tone of amusement. She dropped the cauldron and it fell to the floor with a metallic clang, literally causing the fifth years to turn and gawp in Ellie's direction "please excuse Elladora, she's a bit of a klutz" Sirius laughed making the class snigger, Ellie's cheeks turned red and she felt like a complete idiot.

Where was her clever retort, her usual glare and insult? Sirius picked up the cauldron and put it back into her hands "careful now love" he winked then walked away messing his hair as he went, he sat back down in his seat then glanced back at Ellie, she dropped her gaze and made her way back to her table.

What the hell was that? Why did she react like that? Why was he kind of nice…borderline creepy? 'Love'?

* * *

Ellie thought about potions lesson all throughout dinner that night, she hadn't spoken to any of the marauders since the Hogsmeade fiasco and that was so long ago, and now, now Sirius and James were chatting away like normal. It was odd; she thought about the marauders at length quite often, they were more confusing than a bunch of teenage girls.

Individually they were actually decent. James seemed alright, Sirius seemed helpful, Peter was confident and Remus was funny. But when they were together they enjoyed making Ellie uncomfortable and conscience. Why?

Ellie heard the very 4 boys announce their arrival at the Gryffindor table and began discussing a bet or prank or detention, she didn't care, she concentrated one her roast beef and vegetable dinner with Lily by her side gushing about top marks she received in Ancient Runes and their dear friend Alice snuggling up to her new boyfriend Frank Longbottom.

"Okay, mar, I've got to admit, they are kind of cute" Ellie whispered into her friend's ear

"I know! I'm a fabulous matchmaker" the blonde grinned and nibbled at a carrot.

It was great being mates with Alice, she was the year above and actually very popular, and she was gorgeous, just like all of Ellie's Friends. She had a cute pixie haircut, button nose and delicate features, she was positively beautiful and Frank wasn't too bad either, he was hoping to be head boy when he reaches seventh year and his determination was quite hot really.

* * *

Later that night, everyone was asleep but Ellie couldn't, she was distracted. She hadn't sent a letter to her parents in a long time, so decide to take a trip to the owlery, it was night but there was bound to be some owls left, right?

"I don't know Black, I mean we can't really do it at the quidditch game, you're playing as well as your brother" Ellie leapt behind a wall whilst on her way up to the top tower, the voice wasn't recognisable

"I guess we could bewitch a bludger?" that was Regulus' voice, Ellie was sure of it

"Maybe, we need to think of something though, we can't let him get away with all the shit he does, filthy blood-traitor!" the mysterious voice replied, she heard heavy footsteps and held her breath, the back of a figure jogged down the stairs and away from the pyjama clad fifth year, she just needed to slip away…

"What the hell are you doing?" this voice was angry

"Well, Reg, what are you doing?" she raised her eyebrows at the boy

"None of your business!" he spat spitefully "now get lost before we both get detention!" he rushed the last bit and glance over his shoulder, nervous much?

"Too late." A stern Scottish voice appeared "Black! Aldern! Detention. Now get your dormitories this instant!" McGonagall's bark was pretty bad, but her bite was even worse, Ellie groaned and skulked away, detention with McGonagall, how enjoyable.

**A/N: The ending of this chapter seems a bit rushed, i apologise, and the encounter between Ellie and Sirius seems painfully tacky but i'm a cliché/tacky person ;) if there's any mistakes or if you like it or hate it, feel free to express yourself! :)))) merci for reading**


	8. The week of detentions Part 1

**The week of detentions part 1**

Ellie leapt down the last 2 steps and strolled into the nearly empty great hall, she grabbed a slice of bread and butter and made for the trophy room, her detention was that evening and involved polishing them – wow, very original punishment. She rolled her eyes and darted out of the hall, she didn't really want to reveal to the girls about her detention. Lily would scold her, Marlene, being a bad girl herself, would high five her, Alice would giggle and Cassie would just tell them all to shut up. Cassie wasn't exactly friendly and she despised the Marauders more than anyone, Ellie and Marlene assume it was because Sirius snogged her in fourth year then hexed her right after. But she was her roommate and she wasn't completely terrible, even if she was friends with Katherine Lloyd.

She slowly walked up to the room and casually stepped in, she saw literally hundreds of filthy trophies and a pile of rags "this is a horrid punishment and should be made illegal" she thought aloud grabbing the rags and sighing

"Thought you'd enjoy it, Ell" Ellie smiled then turned

"Remus? What are you doing here?"

"Well me being a top prefect, I'm forced to overlook trouble makers in detention, tut tut, Ellie" Ellie laughed and threw a rag at him

"How about being a top friend and let me sneak off?" She winked that chuckled at his horrified expression, "kidding, but I bet you'd let Potter off"

"Of course not! I like to give James extra detentions, you know, for fun"

"You cruel boy Remus, you mean boy!"

"I try," they both broke down in laughter for a while discussing ways of pissing off James easily, until the door flew open revealing Regulus. He didn't look happy; he glared at Remus then snatched the rags out of Ellie's hand. She made a cat noise indicating his stroppy behaviour causing Remus to choke trying to suppress laughter

"This is all your fault!" the younger boy whined

"How, may I ask?" Ellie crossed her arms; she was honestly amused by this pathetic allegation

"What were you doing sneaking around the castle at that time?" he growled, Remus just took a seat, buried his head in his book and pulled out a bar of Honeydukes finest

"What were you doing?" she spat back, "I'm here on my Tuesday night too Regulus, you think I want to be here?" that caused him to shut it, the rest of the detention went by in silence and Ellie's hand was killing, she flew out of the room at the end, glaring at Regulus as she went.

* * *

"Oh god, it's all my fault!"

"Ellie, it really isn't" James replied soothingly

"I knew something was going to happen, last week, last week I heard some slytherins discussing it, but I forgot to warn him…" she scrunched her nose in distain and continued to moan to the people around her.

Sirius' eyes flickered open, his head was banging and he could make out the white hospital wing, no one noticed he was awake so he just laid there watching. He focussed on peter, chewing his nails then onto James messing his hair, then he looked to his left and was surprised to see Ellie. She had her hair curly again and her face was pale. She was wearing a red and gold scarf and her eyes were twinkling a lot

"Ellie, he's going to be fine, He's been hit by bludgers before," Remus responded

"Yeah but not like that, did you see his neck snap back, bloody hell" Peter gasped

"Peter you're really not helping," James voiced again "It was a rogue bludger, no ones fault…we lost the game though, Seriously Ellie, you should be more worried about that!"

They all looked at each other; James' face was full of pain, maybe because of his best friend lying in hospital but probably more due to the fact that his quidditch team lost to slytherin.

"Understandable you're worried about me Elladora, but really, I'm okay" everyone turned to Sirius, they were oblivious to the fact that he was listening to them

"Mate, thank god, thought you were dead for a minute!" James punched his friends arm

"Cheers prongs, but Elladora, it's fine I'm here now don't cry, how about you hop up here and give me a snog" he attempted to rise from his pillow but it hurt so decided to wink instead.

"Pig!" Ellie threw a chocolate frog at him and stormed out the door.

* * *

"Well that was gruelling" James groaned, as they all emerged out of McGonagall's class. He turned into an excited puppy when Lily spoke up

"It really wasn't that bad, and anyway what do you expect, it is OWL year!" Lily snapped, she was the only one that found the lesson fun and challenging. Ellie just wanted to scream

"I'm waiting for Sev, we have ancient runes" Lily replied at Ellie's questioning look as her friend stayed put, Ellie was dragged away from her friend and pulled along by Remus, she had care of magical creatures with the marauders and they were already late

Sirius still had a bandage on his head, not for the injury on the weekend but to get sympathy from the girls in the castle, they all asked him if he was okay, hugged him and basically let him do what he wanted; Sirius was back to his arrogant ways. Back? He never stopped being an arrogant little shit, Ellie thought.

They all made for the castle doors but Sirius stopped on hearing his brother's voice. Not again Ellie thought. She began to push Sirius out of the door but he wouldn't budge, he just looked round in hate, Ellie knew better than to say anything, the amount of times he had told her to stay out of him and his brother's problems. Regulus had actually got extremely popular over the course of the weeks, probably after the Hogsmeade fiasco, he bid farewell to his friends as he rounded the corner into the entrance hall. Sirius greeted his little brother.

A/N: this chapter is quite short, 'the week of detentions' was supposed to be 1 chapter but it was over 2000 words, so I cut it in 2 :) thanks for reading! 


	9. The week of detentions part 2

**The week of detentions Part 2**

"I'm leaving, I can't be doing with anymore 'Black brother troubles'" Remus shook his head emphasising the last bit to show he thought they were petty, he walked out of the door and Peter followed, Ellie just shuffled on her feet awkwardly, she held her wand in her pocket, she didn't know if she would use it but couldn't be sure.

Regulus saw Sirius, James and Ellie standing by the door; he just grinned and made for the stairs

"Oi!" Sirius called and walked forward

"Not today, Sirius," Regulus replied sternly without turning back

"I heard what you called Dorcas Meadowes the other day. You make me sick!" Sirius called, his brother stopped briefly on the stairs opposite from where James and Ellie watched wearily. Ellie thought back to the day when Regulus called Dorcas a 'mudblood' it made Ellie's blood boil, she had recently become friends with Dorcas and was completely and utterly angered at Regulus, but even so, she didn't really want Sirius attacking him. It's not like Sirius was doing it for Dorcas, he didn't even know her, he just wanted an excuse to hurt his brother.

Regulus just continued to climb the stairs and this obviously angered Sirius, he wanted retaliation, he whipped out his wand and made to scream a curse, but Ellie was faster, she was ready and prepared

"Impedimenta!" she called and caused Sirius to stop dead in his tracks, Regulus turned around and then glanced at Ellie accusingly and then ran up the remainder of the stairs and disappeared.

"Ellie! What the hell is wrong with you?" James cried running up to the stationary Sirius

"Me? He was going to hex him? With his back turned, completely unfair, I was just stopping it before it got too out of hand!" she was offended, it's not like she had hurt him

"You should just leave it!"

"Sorry for not wanting those 2 killing each other!" she scoffed then looked at Sirius; he was coming round and would be able to move in no time. To avoid Sirius Black attacking her, she stepped away and made for the door

"LEVICORPUS!" Ellie was too late, she flew into the air, trying desperately to cover her legs, her skirt was flying up over her face, the boys just snickered, until James realised it was a bit harsh and let her down, she fell for the ground with a huge thud and felt her eyes water, her nose stung and her wrist killed!

She looked up and James smiled apologetically and made for the door "I don't fancy getting a detention because of you two and your aimless flirting" he left but not before Ellie screamed "I am not flirting with that!" She looked up the shaggy haired boy, realising blood was running from her nose and into her mouth, she literally growled and then pounced at him, she attempted to punch him but he was too strong and just held her at arms length.

She pulled herself from his grip, she realised she wasn't actually holding her wand, she cursed inwardly, panicked and looked around and watched Sirius snatch his own wand from the floor, he cried "locomotor mortis!" and Ellie's legs locked together, she fell forward and winced as her body collided with the stone floor but her wand was within grabbing distance. She seized her wand and decided it was time to hex him into oblivion.

She managed to spit out "oppugno" causing the contents of her school bag to fly at Sirius, he ducked from a book but received a jab in the face by a quill, he yelped and covered his head with his arms, Ellie just smiled and let out a satisfied sigh

* * *

Ellie's legs were still locked together when the oh so familiar McGonagall appeared out of thin air, she formed from a cat into a stern looking human. "DETENTION!" Detention for you both! Both of you! How dare you! How dare you fight in the entrance hall!" she unlocked Ellie and motioned for them to follow her, both Ellie and Sirius silently followed whilst she continued to scream about disgrace and house points and punishment. "Miss Aldern, this is the second detention in a week! I'm extremely disappointed in you; I don't even know what to say to you Black!"

* * *

Ellie stood very still in the Gryffindor quidditch changing rooms, repulsed. There was mud and blood and disgusting towels, there was dirty clothing strewn everywhere as well as overflowing bags of extra smelling kit. She began scrubbing the floor that was caked in dried mud when Sirius waltzed in

"Brilliant isn't it" he breathed

"Not really, disgusting, yes, brilliant, no!"

"Well, it's your fault!"

"Wow, you and your brother both love blaming other people don't you!" she looked up at the boy emptying the bags and throwing the kit into clean water, he just turned and grimaced at her

"Oh yeah, moony did tell me about your detention with Regulus, fun?"

"Oh so fun!" she muttered

"Yeah, well he fancies you," he just casually interjected

"What? Don't be ridiculous!"

"No, he does, I can always tell, I don't know why though"

Not again – "Oh so why not? I'm not good looking enough! Jesus Christ, Black!"

"Actually, you're very pretty but what I meant is that you're a blood traitor" he drawled

"Excuse me!" she was alarmed, a blood traitor?

"That came out harsher than expected. I meant because you hang out with muggle borns and other blood traitors" he shrugged

"Regulus isn't as bad as you make out"

"Regulus? And you don't call me Sirius, I'm wounded Elladora!"

"Yeah well Regulus doesn't make me sad all the time!" she replied with no tone, she just looked the spot she was cleaning, but Sirius didn't reply, he was obviously hurt by the last comment "He's your family, your blood, you should at least try to get along" she rose and made her way over to the wall, she noticed that the place was actually looking ten times better already

"Trust me Elladora, I'd rather not"

"Then you're an idiot. Family is important. You don't know what I'd do to have a proper family" she shrugged

"You have your parents"

"Yeah but they're muggles, they don't understand me, they're not Aldern's and I'd love to have siblings!"

He waited for her to continue

"I love them, don't get me wrong, they're my mum and dad, but I sometimes just wish I had a huge family and I don't know, an older brother that could beat you up or something?"

"Beat me up? Thanks Elladora"

"Well it's your fault I'm here! You owe me a treacle tart, apparently that's what they got for dessert tonight" She looked sad and her stomach growled aggressively, Sirius just laughed and continued to scrub the wall.

It was 9.45 in the evening when they finished, Filch appeared and just grinned his toothy yellow smile and cackled "get going now. And be careful don't want to be out of bed after curfew, could earn yourself more detentions" Sirius just shuddered and both made their way up to the castle in silence. When at the portrait hole, Ellie called the password but felt Sirius grab her arm

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked, Ellie had told him she was "wait here"

He walked into the common room and Ellie felt like an idiot waiting. She waited for minutes and decided he wasn't coming back, he's such an arse, she thought.

She called the password again and when the door swung open she lifted a leg but felt someone's hand on her shoulder, she was about to scream her lungs out but saw Sirius poking his head out of thin air. He was in hysterics at the shock on Ellie's face and opened up the cloak to reveal himself

"Come under, we'll get caught otherwise"

**A/N: Hello, this chapter isn't Christmas related :( BUT tomorrow is Christmas day! Yay I'm so excited, Have a lovely time..as the famous Slade song states - 'So here it is merry Christmas, Everybody's having fun' woop, have fun, MERRY CHRISTMAS! :))**


	10. The Kitchens

**The kitchens**

"What?" she just gawped at the bodiless boy

"Me and the boys sneak out all of the time, do you want to get caught?"

"I can wait until morning…"

"But you said you were hungry" there was a tone of disappointment in his voice which Ellie didn't pick up on "Oh come on!" he moved forward, slipped an arm around her waist and tugged her closer to him then let the cloak cascade around them

"You have problems with physical contact. Did you know that?"

"I've been told I can be a bit hands-y" he winked and led them down the lit stairs

"Pig"

"You have problems with calling people mean names. Did you know that?" he retorted quickly, damn he was fast

"Oh shut up" she whispered fiercely, he snickered and crouched along a deserted hallway whilst Ellie tried to keep up to avoid being revealed

"You said you do this all the time? Even Remus?" she asked incredulously

"Especially Remus, he likes chocolate"

Ellie gasped dramatically then chuckled, "Remind me to scold him later, prefect my arse!"

Sirius stopped and looked at Ellie "you can't talk Elladora, we've seen you on our travels" he smiled evilly

"What?" She was alarmed, sure she had snuck out on numerous occasions but realising she could've passed the marauders at any of those times made her nervous. She had snuck to the kitchens, the potions cupboard, astronomy tower, God, even outside in the school grounds by the lake when she was sad. Could the marauders have seen her then?

"Yeah, we've seen you a lot actually, Prongs was surprised, didn't have you as the type to break the rules" They had started walking again and rounded a corner, no one was there,

"I get hungry" she replied calmly "and anyway, the house elves love me"

"Yeah well who wouldn't," he winked again and Ellie just poked her tongue out

"I mean, you haven't seen me out, other times have you, I mean like, when," the nervousness in her voice was strong, Sirius turned to her, he could hear it but also see it on her pale face

"No, not much, only to the kitchens" he turned back

He was lying, Ellie knew it, and he could also tell she saw right through his deliberate lie but she didn't say anything. They came to a door and Sirius threw off the cloak, tickled the tittering pear and waltzed into the kitchen, 3 house elves descended upon him with trays bearing sweets and savouries, he definitely came here more often than Ellie. Ellie took a bowl of soup offered to her and sat at the table apprehensively, Sirius sat opposite her chewing happily on a chicken drumstick, he looked at her and smiled apologetically, she didn't smile back

"When else have you seen me!" she blurted suddenly, she was obviously shocked as she busied herself with her soup

"Elladora…" he began but she cut him off

"Was it the beginning of the year?" she uttered the words quietly, embarrassed

"Yup! First day back, after the entrance hall debacle with Regulus, Jesus, Ell I don't know why you still stick up for him" he threw his chicken on the table and crossed his arms over his chest and waited for a response, but truth is, she didn't know why. First day of 5th year there was a slight encounter with the other Black brother and a couple of Slytherins, Ellie cringed thinking back to it. It was nothing major, just petty and embarrassing; the marauders still adored mocking her about it even though it was nearly 6 months ago!

"He wouldn't be so bad if his brother didn't hate him" she accused

"Ellie, he humiliated you in front of everyone and you still stuck up for him in Hogsmeade!"

"It was a silly hex, I wouldn't say humiliated"

"Then why did you cry…"

"The Hogsmeade fiasco was partly, no wait, completely down to you!"

"Hogsmeade 'fiasco'?" he raised an eyebrow and smirked

"Yeah, we dubbed it that, like it?" she smiled into her soup

It went silent, Ellie didn't know why Regulus had hexed her first day back, but she knew he wasn't an awful creature, she still felt the need to shield him from his older brother

"It's not entirely his fault"

Sirius scoffed and shook his head and began to argue, "Ellie, we saw you crying by the black lake" he replied shortly, no sympathy or soothing in his tone, just anger and exasperation. She lowered her head embarrassed, oh god, well I am so sorry I annoy you Black! Ellie was annoyed herself, I am a girl! Girls get sad, especially around jerks like you!

"Well that was months ago now and the Hogsmeade fiasco has passed, I just don't appreciate you attacking him every second, you'll be kicked out!"

"So you care if I'm kicked out? Understandable"

"Shut up"

"Elladora, why can't you just admit it, you find me sexy"

"Black, I think the giant squid is sexier than you!" and with that Ellie stood up and flounced to the door, she threw back a couple of thanks to her favourite house elves and made to leave…

"Aldern," he called "you need the cloak" she heard his mocking tone, damn, she wanted to leave dramatically, instead she turned red face to a smirking Sirius…Git.

**A/N: I like this chapter, short and sweet :) feel free to leave your opinions and thanks for reading, next chapter shows some Aldern-y-ness…(That's not a word but I'm sure we'll live) :)**


	11. Sirius' wisdom

**Sirius' wisdom**

"Alright?"

"I guess. You?"

"I aced that exam"

"Wow, that's very big headed of you"

"Elladora, you of all people know I'm extremely smart. And good looking"

"Black,"

"What's up with you?" Sirius quizzed, he noticed Ellie wasn't replying with her usual insults, maybe it was after the awkward kitchen conversation the other night…

"Nothing" she replied shortly, she was just tired and annoyed and really couldn't be bothered arguing. Sirius didn't reply, they both just sat by the lake. Ellie was waiting for Dorcas, they had a project together and she was looking forward to spending some time with the Hufflepuff. Ellie's thoughts were interrupted as the subject of her wonderings appeared; Dorcas rushed over clutching books and dropped them next to the 2 Gryffindors

"Well, I'll be leaving, lovely to see you again Dorcas, beautiful as usual" Sirius rose and winked at the Hufflepuff, she just gawped at the leaving boy

"Dory, put your tongue away" Ellie smirked

"Oh shut up Ellie, anyway, we need to get this potions stuff done" they pair began scribbling away answers to their project, throwing in the random gossip and giggles. Dorcas was a 5th year too, Ellie previously thought the girl was extremely shy, but getting know Dorcas Meadowes was one of the things Ellie was chuffed about, she was lovely. Dorcas had shoulder length blond hair and was adorable, small and shy but was one of the strongest witches Ellie had ever met.

* * *

Whilst Dorcas continued working on the potions, Ellie's mind drifted. She thought to the last couple of weeks, the different emotions that washed over her; she shook them away and resumed staring at the parchment before her blankly. But she couldn't concentrate, a sea of emotions randomly flooded into her scrambled mind, they overwhelmed her. She rose and apologised to the confused girl on the grass

"I'll help tomorrow! I promise!" and with that Ellie ran off and dashed towards the library.

* * *

Ellie hated going to the library, she wasn't Madame Pince's favourite student, and she hated the vulgar woman who belittled her at every chance, denied her books and threw her filthy looks when whispering in the silent room. Ellie entered the majestic room, she couldn't help admire it every time she set foot in there, the walls aligned with thousands upon thousands of books, Ellie's idea of heaven, she often wished she could bring her father here, he adored reading, he adored the smell of books, he always had his nose buried in a book. But she couldn't, he was a muggle. Her emotions flared up again and she suppressed a sob.

She noticed the librarian helping a first year, so discreetly crept into the huge room and slithered down the isles and into the restricted section. It was much quieter in this section, cut off from the rest of the library, a couple of 7th years scanned books and took notes, but none looked at her.

* * *

She ran her hand along a line of books, the A section was massive, AB, AC, AD…she continued until she found the section, the Aldern section. Yeah, there was an entire section of books dedicated to her ancestors, her heritage, to Elladora Aldern's past. She stopped and turned her head gazing at the titles on the dusty spines. 'Aldern family tree', 'Arabius Aldern', 'The Aldern's: pure and powerful'. Strictly speaking, Ellie was surprised, she didn't expect there to be so many books about her family. She moved her hand up and gently placed a hand on the book labelled 'Magical mysteries: The Aldern's', she was about to pull the battered book from the shelf but stopped, why was she doing this? She couldn't, she didn't need to know about the Aldern's. She had spent almost 5 years at Hogwarts and for that length of time, had resisted entering the Aldern section, despite the taunts, the stories, the mysteries, despite her mind demanding her to find out. She had asked Dumbledore back in first year and once again in second year, the second time he encouraged Ellie to forget about it all, to not go looking for answers that would end up confusing her more. And she had forgotten about it all, she didn't care…but something snapped inside of her, she was desperate to find out. She grabbed the book and held it tight in her sweaty hand

"No…" she whispered to herself and let her hand drop to her side, the book fell to the floor with a hollow thump, she couldn't, she had a mum and a dad, that's all that mattered, she didn't want to hurt them, she couldn't, they were her family. She didn't need to know about the Aldern's. That was the past.

She turned her back on the books and lent against them, she slid down until she sat on the cold stone floor, she threw her head back repeatedly, her head collided with the heavy books and it hurt but she really didn't give a damn. Her eyes started to sting with tears, she was one of those people that cried so easily, over petty pathetic things and she hated it!

* * *

"Aldern, what on earth are you doing?" Ellie felt like a rabbit caught in headlights,

"Jesus, don't do that!" she whispered angrily

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked again, Ellie was thinking about issuing a bloody restraining order, that boy was literally everywhere, she just looked away from his intriguing eyes but felt him drop down next to her. They both had their backs against the books and legs outstretched before them. Sirius' legs was extremely long, putting Ellie to shame, her legs were tiny, she hated being short. They were silent; the second time that day Sirius had just sat with her, in silence. Ellie couldn't help think that it was oddly comforting

"Restricted section? Breaking the rules _again_! Tut tut Elladora!" Sirius broke the silence with a grin to which Ellie smiled softly for a brief second before resuming her gaunt expression "Why are you sitting on the floor smacking your head against the wall…? I'm afraid you've turned a bit crazy"

"Reasons, Black." She replied causally

"Well, cheer up! You're no fun to annoy when you're depressed" he laughed, and then glanced around when she didn't reply in any way, his eyes fell upon the book on the floor and sighed, "Magical mysteries?" he shuffled forward and grabbed the book "did you read some?"

"No…" the single syllable squeaked out "and I'm not going to…"

"Aren't you curious, I mean, I know you've never looked up the Aldern's before"

"How do you know that, I could've?" She looked at Sirius then to the book in his hands

"Elladora, if you had, you wouldn't be sitting here banging your head against the wall nearly in tears" he threw the book to his side and stood up, he then reached his hand to Ellie's and yanked her off the floor

"Ow!" she groaned rubbing her arm; he grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him,

"Stop sulking, Ellie, you don't need to know about the Aldern's okay, remember in detention? You spoke about your mum and dad? You have them, right? You don't need to know whether…" he stopped looking at Ellie and scanned the shelf, "you don't need to know from Ms Bathilda Bagshot, if the Aldern's are…'Forgotten heroes' okay?" He glanced back at the frustrated brunette, "they're just going to make you sad."

"I," Ellie began to argue, why Sirius was being so nice confused her greatly, but to be honest, she was kind of thankful he was there - he was actually quite right after all, Ellie did have her parents, and these daft books would just make her sad.

He threw an arm around her and walked her along the isle towards the main library

"I see you still have problems with physical contact" Ellie laughed and Sirius chuckled

"well, I…"

"What are you 2 doing?! I don't recall giving you permission to enter the restricted section. COME BACK, Don't you dare run in my, COME BACK!" Madam Pince's screamed echoed away as Sirius and Ellie sprinted out of the library and along the school corridors, they saw the librarian approaching as they emerged from the section and decided to make a run for it, desperate to avoid detention, Ellie let Sirius drag her away.

They made it to the 3rd floor and collapsed by a statue. Peeves whizzed past followed by an angered Filch, thankfully he ignored the puffed out 5th years. Ellie and Sirius looked at each other and erupted into laughter.

**A/N: I feel like I need more of Sirius being kind but I'm not sure...I like when they argue but I like to think that he can be nice too, I'll have to think about it, what do you think? opinions are welcome (and sorry if there's any mistakes) :) thankyou for reading, hope you all have a lovely 2013!**


	12. Snape's mistake

**Snape's mistake**

Ellie wasn't going to deny that the last couple of months had been strange. She hadn't argued with any of the marauders, and when she did, they were joking or arguing about who gets the last cauldron cake. Yep, Ellie was actually friends with the famous 4 boys who over the last 5 years at school had been a huge hassle in her life. She was friends with them. That was odd. Lily was outraged when Ellie sat with them one morning at breakfast, Marlene was livid when Peter called Ellie 'Elladora' and she didn't hex him. Cassie didn't give a crap and Katherine was jealous that Ellie was actually chatting to Sirius Black and James Potter. The girls went by, of course, still best friends but there was no denying it, that Marlene, Lily, Dorcas and even Alice were confused with the new friendship.

Ellie wouldn't have called it odd, she was just being civil. She had always been friends with Remus, and she had always spoken to Peter, James and Sirius. The only difference was that after the encounter between Sirius and Ellie about the Aldern's, Ellie found herself relaxing around the usually intimidating boys. Ellie still spent literally all of her time with the girls, just every now and then they all sat with the marauders. What was wrong with that?

* * *

The crowd were eager to get out into the grounds after their last OWL exam, summer holidays were coming up and nothing felt better than realising there were no more tests and revising. Summer was soon and Ellie couldn't help gush, she stood by the entrance door overlooking 5th years lying on the grass, she saw the marauders plant themselves under the large tree by the lake, she saw Lily perched by the other end of the lake, her jaw moving up and down excitedly, she was probably revealing the answers she put down whilst Marlene sat next to her, her head in her hands. Even from where Ellie stood she could see Dorcas fretting over the recent exam. She noticed Snape sit himself down by the bushes, shielding himself from the glaring sun.

She made to walk over to her friends but was called by Dylan Baker. Ellie hadn't spoken to him in months! What did he want? She collected her nerves and strolled over to him

"How was your exam, OWL year, ouch!" he reminisced, he was only in the year above, but spoke as if it was years ago

"Yeah, OWL's," She shuddered then laughed, ignoring the emerging yells behind her, she didn't know what was happening and she didn't care

"Well, they're important, but I'm sure you did great! I hear you're smart, should've been in Ravenclaw" he smiled gently, his brown hair flopped in his face loosely, his blue eyes sparkled in the sun and Ellie honestly felt her insides turn to jelly. She smiled and began talking away. This surprised her. She was shy and apparently 'socially inept' but she was actually talking to Dylan Baker, she beamed. When he spoke, his nose scrunched but it was so cute, his laugh was gentle and he smiled beautifully, she couldn't help stare at his striking face.

"I was wondering if I could ask you something?" he threw his hand up to his hair and ruffled it, Ellie just wanted to grab his head and kiss it…

"I don't need help from filthy little mudbloods like her!" Ellie wasn't paying attention to the scene behind but whipped around when she heard that, it was Snape. Ellie turned and saw Lily. Snape called lily a mudblood? No way, they were friends. Lily threw an insult at Snape and turned to leave

"Apologise to Evans!" James shouted threateningly but Lily screamed back. Ellie guessed that being called a mudblood in front of everyone and the months of James tormenting her finally caught up with her. She was bloody angry. Lily's face turned pink and turned on her heel, she glanced around and her face crumpled. She hurried away. Ellie noticed instant regret etched onto Snape's face and she heard James calling after Lily. He looked helplessly at Ellie, but she just stood surprised, angry and shock rushed over her and she turned and swept away. Ellie knew if she left, James and Sirius would probably beat Snape up, but she needed to make sure her best friend was okay, without acknowledging Dylan or replying to his inquiry, she darted off in the same direction as Lily, as she retreated into the castle she heard yells and curses. As Ellie ran she saw a whip of red hair rush up the stairs, she finally caught up with the shaking girl at the top of the stairs

"I don't know, I can't remember, I…" Lily was blundering at the Fat lady who was denying her access to the common room

"Hippogriff" Ellie spoke gently; she noticed Lily's shoulders shaking as she clambered through the portrait hole and up the stairs.

* * *

They both sat on Lily's bed in silence. The silence wasn't awkward or depressing, it was comfortable, after around 10 minutes of Lily just staring in surprise, she finally collapsed into tears in her friend's lap

"Oh Ell, how could he say that, he was my best mate, in front of everyone, I feel humiliated!" she mumbled into Ellie and sobbed quietly. It hurt her so much to see her friend destroyed by that snake! Calling her that.

"And Potter!"

"He did defend you…" Ellie whispered gently

"Elladora! Don't side with the enemy!"

"The enemy? Lily," she stroked Lily's hair, but the red head sat up abruptly

"NO! it's his fault! If he didn't hex everyone every second," she paused "Ellie!" she moaned at the look etching onto her friends face "please just let me hate them"

"Okay, fine, but we were all just starting to get on with the marauders…and he did defend you" Ellie knew she was fighting a losing battle

"No, you are just starting to get along with them, I can't stand them, well except Remus, he's alright,"

"Lil," Lily just fell back onto the bed dramatically and sniffed, "fine" the brunette chuckled and stood up "I'll find the girls, I think we're all in need of chocolate and a good bitching?" Lily rose her head and smiled, Ellie made her way to the door and before closing it she heard Lily call "Or you could just kill me!" Ellie giggled and went to hunt for the girls, she smiled at the thought of Marlene attempting to kill Snape.

* * *

"Where's Evans?" James immediately asked as Ellie closed the compartment door

"With the girls, I'm just wondering if you have food." Ellie plonked herself down between Remus and James and grabbed the box of Bertie Botts from James' hand, his face was full of concern and angst "She'll be fine, she just needs a summer to cool off." Ellie replied, Peter looked up and smiled at Ellie, but Sirius was too focused on the game of gobstones

"I don't see why she's so angry, we hexed Snape for her!" Sirius eventually looked up as he won the game, Peter moaned and pushed the game away "sorry Wormy, pay up!"

"You're all really clueless aren't you?" Ellie shook her head "She's upset, Severus was one of her best friends and he called her _that_! You couldn't imagine what she's going through" Sirius just stared perplexed at Ellie, Peter sniffed, Remus sighed and James shook his head

"Is there anything I can do to make her feel better?"

"Nope, you just have to let her get over it. Anyway, she snoozing right now, so no bugging her Potter!" she turned and glared at the messy haired boy, his glasses lopsided and he grinned

"How about a game, all of us, be warned, I'm the best at Gobstones!" Remus laughed

"Yeah right Moony, Let me show you how it's done, Elladora? Game?" Sirius set up the board and glanced at the curly haired girl, "come on, you won't be seeing me until September, you'll want this fantastic memory to get you through the months" He made puppy dog eyes and Ellie couldn't help notice his puppy dog eyes were absolutely brilliant, she poked her tongue out and sank onto the compartment floor and began to play gobstones with the marauders. What was she letting herself in for?

She decided, whilst playing the game, she liked being friends with the 4 boys, it was nice to not have 4 people hexing her and making her self conscious or making her life a misery, 2 months of no detentions or screaming matches. Ellie liked this; she smiled to herself as she won the first 3 games.

**A/N: ergh, this chapter is so sucky, but I needed to show that they were all leaving 5****th**** year, yay. I'll post the next chapter very soon, it's got a bit more Sirius in it, which is always fabulous to know **


	13. Summer with Sirius Black

**Summer with Sirius**

"Ellie? What are you doing here?"

"Hi! I thought you looked familiar" she smiled at the boy before her, she was in the record shop and noticed him walk past

"Yeah, well I saw you and thought I'd say hi…" he trailed off embarrassed "so, yeah, what did you say you were doing here?"

"In the area, you do realise this is one of the best music shops in all of London!" she gushed clutching a vinyl in her small hands

"Yeah, I come here a lot, I live down the road" his grey eyes glittered but he didn't look like his normal self, he looked pained. He didn't have his signature smirk and looked kind of…shy?

"I knew you lived around here somewhere, James was telling me" Sirius noticed she seemed really happy, like how she was on the train ride home, jolly and carefree, not obsessed with arguing but just in high spirits

"He did?"

"Oh and of course I only came here to see your beautiful face!" she winked then put the record back on the shelf, she grinned then made to leave

"Wait, I actually need your help" after Ellie's flirty comment he seemed to become more confident, more like Sirius

"Yes?" they were standing in the middle of a cobbled street by the time she stopped moving

"I'm stuck, like very stuck on charms. I personally believe Flitwick imposed this vicious piece of work on us to ruin our summer!" he dramatised the entire sentence causing Ellie to raise her eyebrows. He was smart, he had Remus, and he had the entire summer? But Ellie kept quiet and let him continue

"I just fancy getting all my work done now, you know? Time to enjoy summer." He smiled

"Right…"

"I live just down the road, fancy coming back and helping me?"

"Your mum…" Ellie hadn't really got on well with Walburga Black in their last 2 encounters. They involved a lot of shouting…Mrs Black screaming astoundingly rude words and Ellie screeching back in defence of the people the older witch had insulted.

He just chuckled "Na, mum went out, it's fine and anyway, it's only homework, don't get any ideas Aldern" He took her arm and pulled her away gently down the cobbled road.

* * *

"Your mummy is lovely by the way" Ellie grinned, she turned her conversation to Mrs Black as they made their way down the street

"She feels threatened by you"

"Why on earth would your mother feel threatened by me?" she was shocked

"You're an Aldern, purer than pure, purer than all the Black's put together!"

Ellie just shuffled awkwardly, she didn't love it when people brought up her ancestors

He just laughed "you should be 'proud'" Ellie could hear the distain in his shallow voice

"Oh well, I don't really care about all of that stuff, I grew up with muggles, technically a muggleborn here" She pointed at herself and shrugged, he laughed roughly again

"Wish I could be like that, carefree" he spoke eerily, but if only he knew that inside she felt the very opposite, restricted and incomplete, something missing and tying her down…

"I'm sure it's not that bad, you're Sirius Black. Rebel! Troublemaker!"

"You do speak the truth dear Elladora" he grinned and stopped at a set of steps leading to a row of very tall, very narrow houses.

"12 Grimmald place, the bane of my existence" Ellie just smiled politely "scratch that, the residence of Mr and Mrs Black, the bane of my existence" this time Ellie burst into laughter, the whole black family just made Ellie confused and scared but the way Sirius was joking about it made her seem safe. She knew it was a ridiculous idea, foolish but there was just something in the way he wasn't concerned that made her feel braver. Not by much, especially when she stepped into the dank hallway.

* * *

They entered a dark hallway, portraits aligned the walls, the entire house looked murky and horrible, Ellie couldn't imagine growing up in a place like this. Sirius acknowledged the shock on her face and just laughed

"It's, erm, beautiful" she snickered but stopped abruptly witnessing a quietly muttering stout disgusting house elf, what on earth…?

"Kreacher, get lost!" Sirius waved the elf away

"You should be nice" Ellie felt bad, the elf, as ugly as it was didn't deserve harsh commands

"Elladora, if you grew up with Kreacher, you'd want to kill it. Twice!" Ellie just giggled and followed Sirius through to the equally gloomy kitchen to start the work.

* * *

"No, if you do that, you'll blow the entire place up!" she scribbled out his answer and sighed

"Wicked" he breathed

"You sound just like James"

"Ha-ha, speaking of prongs, you seen him recently? And do you think Evans will forgive him, he seems pretty gutted" he took the quill from her and began to re write the spell, extremely conscience that she was watching him very closely

"Yeah, actually, I saw James the other day, in the leaky cauldron, he invited me and the girls round when you guys have that 'get together' before school starts" he looked up, why would prongs invite them, he thought

"Oh…"

"Don't know if we'll go though" she shrugged and took a sip from a goblet "and dear Lily, I don't know, honestly, I've never seen her like this, Snape really hurt her!"

"Yeah, was a bit harsh" he lent forward over his paper, but Ellie bit back her reply. He couldn't talk, he was mean, sure Ellie and the girls had started getting on with the marauders and could have a decent conversation with them but it didn't mean Sirius Black wasn't still rather cruel.

"I thought this incantation caused sparks…why is it saying flowers-"

Sirius didn't manage to finish his inquiry, the kitchen door smashed open revealing startled glares.

* * *

"So Kreacher was right! You have a filthy blood traitor in my home. You have her in my home. An Aldern!" Mrs Walburga Black gasped the last two words as if they were poison on her tongue

"Mother," Sirius drawled. His father's eyes were full of fire and Regulus skulked in and sat at the head of the table. Kreacher stood at the door grinning evilly. Ellie decided it was time to leave, she rose and walked to the door, Mrs Black honestly frightened her, she always had but it was something in the way she was looking at her eldest son then looking at Ellie, which made the girl worried

"Mrs Black, I'm sorry, we were just doing work" Ellie spluttered trying to sound unnerved but realised it was failing greatly

"DO NOT! Do not think you can speak to me, you insolent, filthy girl, I will not have you even utter a word to me in my own home. You should be extremely lucky right now that I don't have my wand…" Mrs Black walked towards Ellie; she was half way out of the kitchen door and continued stepping backwards as the frightening woman descended towards her. She only stopped when her back smacked into the kitchen door "If I had my wand on me right now, you couldn't even imagine, you and your family, you…"

"Shut up!" Sirius bellowed "Shut up you evil cow! Don't you dare talk to her like that!" he jumped from his seat and walked around the table, Mrs Black turned and walked back to her husband, Sirius stepped up and stood face to face with Mr and Mrs Black, Mr Black silently seething whilst Mrs Black looked as if she were about to foam at the mouth

"Sirius," Ellie whispered shocked, he was in trouble and they all knew it. But he foolishly continued

"You think you're so above everyone, all of you! Well you're not! You and I obviously have very different opinions of what a blood traitor is mummy dearest." He snarled venomously. Mrs Black looked round at her husband calmly then turned back to her 'blood traitor' son, her arm flew up within seconds and collided with Sirius' cheek, the sound of her hand smacking his face sent chills down Ellie's spine, her face crumpled into pure shock, Sirius' face remained at a rigid angle, he then snapped back to reality and looked at his mother with no emotion

* * *

"Orion, please take the girl to the door," she turned to Ellie "GET HER OUT OF OUR HOUSE! NOW." Ellie's feet remained planted to the floor, she gawped at Sirius. She needed to do something

"Sirius" she whispered "Sirius, I'm sorry…" Mr Black grabbed Ellie by the upper arm, his grip was hurting a lot and Ellie struggled, she needed to make sure Sirius was okay, it was her fault after all. Sirius slowly moved his face towards Ellie, one side of his pale face was red and already bruising, he just stared. Her eyebrows knotted. He grimaced and scowled and just shook his head angrily, Ellie stopped struggling and let Orion Black pull her away to the front door. She was pushed out of the house but before hearing the door slam she heard the older man sneer "you disgust me!" Ellie turned to face him, anger bubbling inside her! How dare he! How dare he, bastard!

Ellie focused on the kitchen door, screaming emerging from the closed barrier, it didn't make sense, Ellie wasn't listening. The front door slammed in her face. She was angry and ashamed and embarrassed. She was Hurt. The way Sirius looked at her. That was shocking. Tears began to sting her brown eyes.

**A/N: Thought I'd upload this chapter in celebration of the snowday I have, yay no school :) Hope you like this chapter, sorry if some bits seem rushed, but overall I think it's alright…Leave your opinions or criticism if you fancy, merci for reading :3**


	14. Potter's refuge

**Potter's refuge**

She battered the door aggressively; someone was in, because the lights were shining. The door pulled open lightly exposing an ageing brown haired witch she bore a warm smile – inviting and adoring.

"Hello dear?" she voice was light and airy and Ellie automatically felt comfortable

"I really really need to speak to James Potter! Please," gasped the small girl, she was flustered and urgent

"Of course dear, of course, come in, what's the matter? I'm Mrs Potter, and oh, oh I know who you are!" she put an arm around Ellie and walked her into a bright huge kitchen, her cheeks were rosy and she smiled

"I'm Ellie" she smiled but looked around, where was James

"I'll get him, dear" she strolled off and appeared a few minute later with James in tow, he had wet hair and was shirtless, Ellie couldn't help admire his torso, the quidditch obviously – No! She had to speak to him

"Ellie?" His voice was husky and his glasses lopsided

"It's about Sirius!" Ellie blurted out feeling like an idiot, Mrs Potter made to leave

"Wait mum, Ell, you mind if she stays, Sirius is important to her?" Ellie nodded eagerly, she didn't mind, she didn't care, Mrs Potter smiled, conjured a top out of the air threw it at her son and began to pour drinks

"Have you heard from him? At all since the beginning of summer?" Ellie stood still as the Potter's sat around the table

"No, why?" James just glanced at her confused

"Oh Merlin!" Ellie turned around to face the door; she buried her head in her hands and began muttering incoherently then turned around again. "I think he's in trouble, and it's my fault, oh Merlin, you should've seen the way he looked at me, like I was filth! I went to his house, I know, stupid so stupid and his parents came back…James, we were only doing charms homework! And she starting yelling and screaming and then she hit him, she hit him in the face and I don't know what to do and he glared at me and to be honest I was scared and I haven't heard from him and I-"

She stopped, why was she getting so flustered, she gaped at the Potter's, they probably didn't understand a thing she uttered

"I think he's in trouble," she whispered it this time and looked from the witch to the wizard.

"Ellie, dear, I'm sure he's fine, what happened after Mrs Black, did you say 'hit him'" Mrs Potter looked angered, the thought of her adoptive son being harmed obviously hurt her

"Ellie, ells…" James rose and waltzed over to Ellie, he held her shoulders then hugged her. Why was James Potter hugging her? He obviously thought the same as he let go abruptly "Ellie, since when do you get concerned over 'Sirius bloody Black'?" he chuckled playfully "He's a strong boy, smart, he knows what he's doing"

"But she smacked him, in the face and she was screaming and he was hurt, I know he was, he won't admit it…" she looked to Mrs Potter who was gazing at the girl sympathetically "but his face…" she lowered her head

"I'll go floo him" James obviously noticed Ellie was devastated, he ran off

* * *

Ellie was left alone with Mrs Potter who handed her a glass of butterbeer and gestured her to sit down. Ellie couldn't help stare at the witch, she had beautiful hazel eyes and laugh lines all around her face, she wasn't young but her face still contained youth, she smiled delicately again

"I've heard all about you. And lily, from the boys. You girls at Hogwarts have really influenced them, especially James, he's really cracked down on work now"

"Still a troublemaker though" Ellie smiled whilst Mrs Potter just laughed and shook her head

"Those four are hassle, must admit"

"They're lovely boys, now anyway, we didn't really see eye to eye in first year" Ellie thought back to her first couple of years at Hogwarts and shuddered

"James did tell me you and Sirius don't get along, clash a lot, but you seem very upset dear?" Ellie looked at the ageing woman and blushed; she had an idea where this was going

"I don't know, I guess over the last year we've become, almost friends, even though he did get me in about 5 detentions" she rolled her eyes at the last bit "but anyway, it was awful, even though we're not close friends, I still felt responsible"

"you're not" Mrs Potter took her hand and continued to smile reassuringly "the Black's aren't very loving towards Sirius, I see him as my son, Mrs Black doesn't, she's heartless, but dear, he'll be fine, he'll show up here for summer any day soon" Ellie didn't know how to reply, she knew she was being silly getting muddled with this but she couldn't help feel gutted. Mrs Potter rose and began fiddling around in the cupboards; "staying for dinner Ellie, I'd love to have you" Ellie was on the verge of politely declining when James waltzed back in

"Yeah go on Ell, mum does the best spaghetti Bolognese!" he smiled and sat on the kitchen table "and anyway you can tell me about Lily, do you think she'll ever forgive me?" he sounded extremely exasperated about the whole Lily situation "you can floo home later, it'll be fine," he replied at Ellie's sceptical look

"As long as it's definitely okay" she looked to Mrs Potter who nodded "James, I don't think dearest Lily likes you anymore" she chuckled and patted him on the leg

"Damn, maybe I should send her a howler"

"No! She'll kill you!" they both started laughing and snickered about Lily's reaction to a singing howler demanding her to forgive James

"Did you get hold of him?" Ellie changed the subject back to the reason why she was there in the first place.

"No."

* * *

The 3 Potter's and Ellie were sitting at the table eating Mrs Potter's spaghetti Bolognese, James was right, it was the best. They were discussing James' sports and grades and Ellie literally laughed more than she had in a long time, she giggled at Mrs Potter's digs at her bigheaded son and Mr Potter's teasing him about his love for his 'lily flower'…

"And she sent him the bat bogey hex!" Mr and Mrs Potter collapsed with laughter as Ellie described the events of the last day of 5th year "he was running around, nearly in tears…"

"Elladora" James growled

"Don't call me that" she shot back with an edge to her voice that made him sink back into his seat

"James I can't wait to meet Lily"

"Silence father!" James laughed but then turned his attention to the window, rain battered on the glass

"Trust it to rain during summer! Bloody Britain" James grimaced at the window; he continued to mutter about the weather for a good few minutes

"Rain's the best" Ellie smiled

James was about to argue but was cut short when there was a sharp rap at the door, he rose to answer it and disappeared

* * *

"It's nice to have guests, we have Sirius and Remus and little peter, but I really do love meeting James' friends" Mrs Potter spoke softly and smiled but stopped upon hearing voices emerging from the kitchen

"It's fine, mate, of course. Bloody hell! Come on," the door slammed and James Potter walked into the dining room, his best friend in tow, his hair and clothes drenched and face dripping, but also containing bruises, multiple bruises. His pale face made the purple blotches show brightly, he looked tired and pained and angry. Mr Potter stood abruptly and ran over to his 'son'

"Sirius!" he was shocked, everyone was shocked; Ellie was completely and utterly alarmed. His face glared at his surroundings until Mrs Potter ran to him and pulled him into a tight embrace, he winced but then relaxed his face, and his youth and good looks reappeared.

"Mum, Sirius is staying over summer, that's cool right?" He wasn't asking, just telling

"Of course, of course! Go upstairs; I'll get Polly to bring up some food and hot chocolate…oh Sirius!"

He smiled weakly then looked to Ellie blankly, lowered his face and sped away.

Ellie silently rose and thanked the Potter's for their hospitality; this was 'family' time she was intruding. James led her to the fireplace

"He'll be fine"

"Oh I know, James, just making sure and what not…" she trailed off, why was she making excuses, she was obviously worried about him and James could blatantly tell but didn't reply. Ellie climbed into the fire, yelled 'Jaspers living room' and disappeared in the emerald flames.

**A/N: yo! Haven't uploaded in a while, but chapter 14 yay :) **


	15. Welcome Backs

_Okay, be prepared for a sucky/babyish/cringey ending, but meh :) btw, I don't own anything_

**Welcome backs**

A girl with very long, very curly hair, laid across the compartment seat face down. She stayed like that for nearly the entire train ride on the Hogwarts express on her way to her magical boarding school and only rose to get food from the trolley. Her best friend was in the prefect compartment; Marlene was off seducing boys, Dorcas was with her Hufflepuff friends and Alice was with her head boy boyfriend, Frank. It was Alice's last year and Ellie wanted to make it special, so far it was pretty rubbish. As was the summer, she saw Lily a couple of times as well as various other people and received a couple of hilarious letters off Marlene but overall it was utterly mundane. Ellie just closed her eyes and went to sleep, her life wasn't terrible but she was just having one of those days.

* * *

She tucked into her meal that same night, still pretty mundane, nothing special. The marauders hadn't pulled any pranks so far, they weren't even at dinner, and come to think of it she hadn't seen them on the train either. She listened to the headmasters speech, struggled to stay awake through the sorting ceremony and listened to McGonagall warn her that she wouldn't accept any trouble this year, she was a 6th year and needed to act like it. Ellie made her way to the common room, she was bored. She collapsed onto a puffy sofa and closed her eyes.

* * *

"Ellie, get up" Lily's pretty face hovered in front of the drowsy Ellie snoozing on the sofa, she looked around wearily and noticed the common room was emptying, she sat up abruptly and blinked at Lily then stretched

"We should go to bed"

"Aw, girls, where's my offer? Evans, forgiven me yet?" Lily's face knotted and Ellie stopped stretching she glanced at her friend and noticed her lips purse and her bright green eyes narrow

"Shove it Potter!" the redhead muttered something oddly similar to 'howler' and Ellie had to suppress a chuckle, she turned to face the annoying boy, she grinned when she found the hazel eyes

"Alright Ellie?"

"Not bad, Potter"

"Hi Ellie!" Remus appeared at James' side, he smiled cheerily, and he looked well, no new scars or injuries, just a lazy but happy smile. Sirius emerged from the portrait hole tugging Peter. The latter had loss weight, he didn't look as weedy as normal. Wow, not seeing some people for 2 months really made huge difference. Sirius stopped "Ladies" He nodded at the 2 girls and proceeded to drag Peter up the steps but stopped upon hearing thumping and yelling materialise from the dorm stairs.

"LILY! Katherine is being a slut again and Cassie is being a stroppy bitch! Control them!" Marlene thundered down the stairs yelling and throwing in a colourful swear word or two

"Marlene, stop shouting! It's late, go to bed!"

"Lily," Marlene sighed and fell to the carpet, "We all need to catch up! Oi boys, sit!" there must've been something in Marlene's voice, as all four boys sat immediately, Marlene had always been the fierce, if not slightly scary one. Ellie remained standing, she wasn't in the mood for a 'fun get–together'

"Elladora Aldern, sit your arse down now" Marlene grabbed Ellie's ankle and pulled her into the circle formed on the red fluffy floor. "So, boys and girls, how was summer?" Marlene leaned back and laughed

"Fine."

"Alright."

"Fine"

"It was good"

"Hmm"

"Wow! Enthusiastic bunch! Come on guys, I've been away from proper civilisation for the entire summer; I need to speak to people! Come on! We're 6th years! We can learn to apparate and boss around first years, it's going to be good!"

"Mar," Lily began to argue but was punched in the arm, Ellie suppressed a snigger and realised Marlene must have been completely and utterly bored, she spent the 2 months summer in Wales with her mother's ancient muggle family…poor girl.

"So, I'll ask again, how was summer? Peter? Sirius?"

"Well, mine wasn't the best, but don't worry Marlene, I'm sure Elladora can catch you up… she's bound to gossip about it anyway" Sirius spoke up ever so casually, James groaned and Remus cleared his throat uncomfortably. This caused Ellie to instantly comprehend why Sirius had avoided her all summer, he was afraid. Afraid Ellie would 'gossip' about what happened, he didn't need to worry though, she wasn't that type of girl. She decided to brush off the comment.

"Are we missing something?" Lily and Marlene glanced from Sirius to Ellie, both of which were keeping complete eye contact, Sirius' with no expression and Ellie's with confusion, she finally tore her eyes away from the stormy grey eyes and chuckled nervously.

"Sirius," Peter whispered

"No, wormy, we're all friends here," he sneered as if the words were venom

"I hope you're not implying that I'm the one to blame" the brunette leapt up from the floor and glared at Sirius, he just laid back on the cushions lazily, this just angered the girl even more

"Well Elladora, you do have a tendency to cock up, a lot!" He looked up and smirked

"Oh please, if you learnt self control,"

"Self control?" Sirius jumped up and stood opposite the small girl defiantly, James sighed whilst the 2 girls on the floor still looked on with perplexed expressions

"Yeah, if you weren't such a hormonal –"

"Don't you dare"

"Don't _you_ dare! How dare you blame me! You're the one that insisted we go to your house!"

"Another Black – Aldern screaming match. I was missing these, them becoming friends and all" Remus sighed

"Friends? Please, I have my mates and she isn't classified in that category" Sirius yelled

"I don't know, I kind of miss the Evans – Potter fights, they're always fun!" Marlene challenged Remus, the 5 people on the floor let their conversation die away and resumed looking at the squabbling pair.

"Good, because you've always been a tosser, now we've cleared that up!" Ellie turned and stepped over James. She stopped and turned back around as Sirius whispered something "Sorry, didn't quite catch that. Care to share?" She spat

"Nah, just commenting on how fat you've got" Lily gasped, Marlene's mouth turned into a perfect O shape and the 3 marauders groaned in unison. Sirius smiled nastily, Ellie just shrugged and left the common room and up the stairs, she could hear Marlene starting to shout at Sirius but she really didn't care, she walked into her room climbed on her bed, closed the curtains and sighed. It was petty, what he said, it didn't upset her overly, she was just angered. Why did she always let Sirius annoy her?

**A/N: Okay, so Sirius' comment was really babyish and whatnot but I couldn't think of anything better because I'm a loser :( I really can't write decent stuff but it sounded alright when I read it, oh well. Please feel free to review yay!**


	16. Dylan Baker

_Thank you to Spottedmask12 for the review! Means a lot :)_

**Dylan Baker**

Ellie was used to Sirius Black's mood swings, she had known him for nearly 6 years now, his stroppy episodes weren't new. The only difference this time – she didn't care.

Normally Ellie would desperately try to figure out what she had done wrong, just so she could shout at him for being a judgmental arrogant arse.

They had a…small dilemma at the beginning of summer and maybe not the best start of the term, okay, so basically their last couple of encounters were completely disastrous, but this time it was different.

Sirius Black hadn't even attempted to insult or hex or annoy Ellie. He ignored her, she wasn't going to complain, she enjoyed a quiet life. But it was odd, no denying it.

This time it was Sirius that was in the complete wrong!

She knew why he was being stupid and normally it would've kept her mind occupied for a while, but this time…this time she had something new to think about…

* * *

Dylan Baker was beautiful. Everyone thought it, God, even the boys probably acknowledged it. The attention he received almost matched that of the 4 famous Gryffindor boys.

The marauders were good looking but also known for being gits, whereas Dylan was good looking but known for being smart and sweet. Ellie liked boys like that – kind of nerdy and could show emotions.

Dylan was kind and sweet and good looking and intelligent. Yeah, he was Ellie's idea of perfect.

She met him when she was in 2nd year, he was a 3rd year…James Potter pushed her down the stairs, she landed at the foot of 5 Ravenclaw boys, and she knew they were different from the marauders, purely because they didn't laugh at her. Which was strange, them being 13 year old boys and all, spotting a girl with her knickers on show and lying on the floor like an elephant, that would've made anyone laugh.

But they didn't, the one with brown hair and blue eyes helped her up, he smiled sweetly and asked if she were okay.

She only blushed and scuttled away.

* * *

It was safe to say Ellie was kind of in love with Dylan since she first laid eyes upon him. So when he cornered her one day on her way to Potions, she couldn't help inwardly squealing like a loon.

"Ellie!"

"Oh, hi! Hey," she struggled with her books and crammed them into her school bag

"Can I talk to you" he chuckled and jogged over to her "Every time I've tried speaking to you we've been interrupted, how's you mate by the way" her mate? Oh Lily, yes

"Oh she's fine, she hexed him. All is well" She nodded seriously and he laughed

"Good, he seemed like a dick"

"Yeah, well, he is a Slytherin…" She kind of regretted that, Snape may be an arse, but she always tried to be neutral to all the houses

"Look, I was wondering, if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me on Saturday," He ruffled his hair nervously, Ellie suppressed a wail of glee and glanced at him with her sparkling eyes

"Yes!" she immediately regretted sounding so eager, but he just grinned

"Great! Cool, that's really great!"

"As long as we don't go in that weird teashop that throws confetti at everyone" she rolled her eyes

"Thank God, I thought you being a girl, would be desperate to date in there!"

"Nah, I'm not exactly your typical girl" she lent against the wall and winked

"So you don't faint over the so called 'marauders'?" he lent on the wall too, opposite her, smiling curiously

"No! They're in all my lessons, I've basically lived with them for the last 5 years, you learn not to swoon over James Potter when you see him picking his nose and shovelling mash potato in his gob" she cringed at the thought of mash potato spilling out of his mouth when he laughed. Nice…

"Yeah, well, at least I know you won't stand me up for them" He smiled and Ellie giggled, ergh, since when did she act like Katherine Lloyd?

"Crap! I have potions, you made me late!" She laughed and pointed her finger at him accusingly, she pulled herself off the wall and darted away, she heard an apology die away as she entered the castle.

She looked at her watched an groaned, 20 minutes late, Slughorn will kill her! But secretly she didn't care. She was going on a date with Dylan Baker!

* * *

"I spoke to your lover boy today" Lily jumped onto Ellie's bed causing the potions homework to fly everywhere

"What are you talking about?" she glanced up at the beaming red head

"I spoke to him today, I told him he better not hurt you!" she winked and jumped up and stood on Ellie's work

"Lily, are you on drugs? What on earth, LIL!" Ellie climbed off of the bed and pulled her friend down, "what did you say to him,"

"We just chatted, he really likes you, did you know that?" Lily grinned, she collected the sheets of paper and put them neatly on the bed

Ellie just glared

"You'll make a cute couple"

"It's just a get together…don't freak out too much Lily dearest!" Ellie gently tapped her folder on Lily's head then walked into the bathroom, inwardly squealing again.

* * *

Lily was in the library, Dorcas was eating dinner with the Hufflepuffs, Marlene was off snogging some random Ravenclaw and Ellie was perched on the bench at the Gryffindor table in the grand hall eating by herself, she didn't mind, she was writing a letter to her parents but only had a couple of words so far.

"We spoke to Baker today" Ellie was startled and glanced up curiously, James and Peter sat opposite her, she looked around suspicious to where the other two were.

"Remus is with Evans, and Sirius is…somewhere." Peter answered her questionable expression, she should've known Sirius wouldn't be there; he was probably off pouting or seducing a poor girl, they hadn't exchanged looks since September 1st.

A part of her was kind of sad about that. They were becoming friends after all…no! She shook the thought from her head, she didn't care about him.

"So yeah, Ellie, we hear you two are dating" James pulled a piece of chicken off her plate

"We're not dating! We're just meeting up on Saturday, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, he's a nice chap, shit at quidditch but yeah,"

"If he's so shit then why is he captain?" she growled

"I have no idea"

"Yes, well, we're not dating, we're just spending time together, now shove off, just because Lily is still ignoring you, it doesn't mean you can harass me." She smacked away his hand as he made to take more food "And stop taking my food, there's plenty on the table, why go for my plate?"

"Because you have fantastic taste in food as well as boys," he smiled cheekily and rose "come on Petey, let's go find Baker and tell him how Ellie snores like a man!"

"You've never heard me snore!" she shouted

"Ellie, we've seen you asleep multiple times"

"That's not at all pervy, congrats Potter, you've seemed to get even more infuriating" she made a rude hand gesture and the 2 marauders strolled out of the hall.

* * *

Ellie didn't know what to expect from the rest of the school, everyone loved Dylan, so receiving glares from girls and looks from boys, it was weird to say the least, she was used to being ignored by boys and just whispered about.

But every time she saw Dylan she grinned like an idiot, swooned and greeted him shyly. She spotted Sirius every now and then.

He still didn't acknowledge her existence.

That was until she was squashed in the hallway next to Dylan in between 3rd and 4th lesson; Sirius strolled past, the crowds typically parted like the red sea for him,

"Careful Baker, she's a nutty bitch!" he sneered and continued to strut off, Dylan glanced down at Ellie who just shook her head, he asked her jokingly if she wanted him to go punch him, Ellie just laughed it off and bid him farewell.

She liked Dylan and for once she didn't give a shit what Sirius or James or anyone said to her. She was just really happy. Yay for love, she thought to herself…

**A/N: Okay, okay…Cheesy, Cliché, tacky, corny…call it what you will. But Ellie is finally falling in love (why not with Sirius!? *cries*) I figured I need more Sirius and Ellie, but that'll be in later chapters, seeing as they're feuding. Did I make mistakes :/ ? **

**Merci for reading! Please review! :) x**


	17. Dates

_Thank you to Spottedmask12 for reviewing again, and to happypanda19! Thank you both for reading and reviewing, it really does mean a lot! :) _

**Dates**

_Hogsmeade trip: October 15th: __Third years and above, must have permission slips._

"I'm sorry about what happened over summer, and everything, I'm sorry" He had stopped her on her way to the common room, he was fast. A question was dancing on his lips and Ellie couldn't help think that he was actually very handsome

"I was just wondering something," he began shyly; Ellie was dreading his question, especially after Sirius and the Slytherins mocked her non stop about the younger Black brother. His usually dull grey eyes twinkled, he was nervous, there was no denying it

"if-you-want-to-go-to-Hogsmeade-with-me-on-Saturday!" he rushed the entire sentence. It was one big ramble but his eyes screamed for Ellie to not want the question repeated

"Regulus," she paused, he took it the wrong and began to leave, he took it as her denying him.

She was, but it wasn't meant to be like that. "Wait a minute will you!" Ellie grabbed his arm and he swung back around and glared, he was obviously embarrassed, Ellie just lowered her head

"I'm already going with someone, but I can meet you for a butterbeer, you know, to chat?" her voice rose in what she hoped was welcoming or reassurance. The younger boy's eyes softened, they weren't glaring but they weren't exactly dancing with joy.

What the hell was she doing? This was Regulus Black! Why was she feeding his juvenile crush? Because she knows what it's like to have a crush…He probably doesn't even fancy me, she thought in her head, well, I hope he doesn't. She cringed at the thought of the 4th year asking her out…like properly.

"With Sirius?" his forever changing eyes began glaring again

"No actually."

"Who?"

"Dylan Baker" she was suddenly extremely uncomfortable. She hated it when the marauders quizzed her about everything, never mind Regulus too

"Oh right." He turned again and stalked off, Ellie didn't stop him, he'd get over it. There were plenty of girls at the school. Girls that weren't blood traitors, Gryffindors or 2 years older than him.

* * *

"Must the Black brothers torment me?" Ellie cried dramatically as she flopped onto her bed, Marlene was strewn across the floor shuffling photos, Lily sat on the window seat staring at a newspaper, and they both looked up and grinned at the sulking 6th year

"What've they done this time?" replied an agitated Cassie, their other roommate, as she emerged from the bathroom drying her black hair.

"Young Regulus asked me out and Sirius is still ignoring me…not that I mind the last one to be honest, but if he's not ignoring me, he's being quite nasty" Ellie stared at the ceiling annoyed

"He's just jealous" Cassie replied casually as she perched on her bed

"Please," Ellie scoffed sitting up and rolling her large eyes

"Oh please Ell, you're pretty and he's just jealous that someone else has finally taken notice of you" Lily interjected, Ellie knew it wasn't that though, he hated her over events that weren't her fault.

"Yeah well, I now have boobs and what not, no wonder he notices me now. Sirius Black is a…"

"Gorgeous fine specimen?" Katherine squealed as she strutted into the dorm and rummaged through her trunk, Ellie grimaced, Marlene shook her head in distain and Cassie exclaimed,

"No! Kath, babe, do not start with the Sirius Black shit again"

"Cassie, come on, you cannot deny he's beautiful!" Cassie responded by throwing her damp towel at the gushing blonde.

Even her laugh was infuriating, Ellie, Marlene and Lily were thankful that Katherine rarely spent time in the dorm, she normally spent her time in random boys beds, for a 16 year old, she was an atrocious slag. But they were roommates and they had to get along, even if it did pain Ellie and Marlene.

"I thought you got over your crush on Black" Marlene climbed up and crossed her arms

"Yeah, I have, but he's still fit!" Katherine grimaced at Marlene and briefly glared at Ellie.

Lily squeaked from the corner.

"Lil?" Marlene questioned before giggling,

"Have you read the paper?" Lily looked up with shock on her face, "more people have died" she uttered the last couple of words before letting Cassie snatch the paper

"Jesus, more?" she whispered as her eyes widened at the news, "_5 muggles found dead in Finchley! The minister urges anyone with information about so called 'death eaters' to come forward…_"

Ellie scrambled over to three girls and the bold fierce headline hurdled towards her, she caught her breath, Marlene snatched the paper,

"_The minister will be sending safe packs to all wizarding families, continuing to urge people to stay safe…_Oh that's good for wizards but what about muggles, what about my mum and her family, they're muggles! All this…" Marlene continued to read but spat the venomous words we were all thinking "all this death, Voldemort, war. When the hell is it going to end!" she threw the paper to the floor and stormed out of the room, no one moved, no one knew what to say.

The news suddenly made Ellie's problems with the Black brothers seem petty and so small. Superficial, in fact…juvenile. It also made her need for dinner disappear. She couldn't help worry, her parents were muggles; if 5 people could easily be murdered not far from where Ellie lived she couldn't exactly be calm. Her parents weren't magical, they couldn't defend themselves.

It was a solemn thing to think about, but lately, everyone _had_ to think about it.

* * *

"ELLADORA ALDERN!"

"Yes my darling," cooed Ellie glancing up from her mushy cereal at the excited red head storming down up the great hall, she was tired if not slightly upset by recent events, the newspaper this morning bore no bad news, thankfully. She decided to turn all happy modes on for her best friend. They were safe after all.

"Guess what asked me, no, who asked, guess, I'm, guess who…"

"Lil, calm down, you'll give yourself a haemorrhage" Ellie laughed at her friend who almost collapsed beside her, Lily just grinned her beautiful smile, "Oh god, Lily! Please don't tell me you've accepted Potter's proposal?" Lily just giggled but Ellie wasn't joking, James Potter being the dramatic marauder _had_ asked Lily to marry him on multiple occasions…

"Don't be silly, but, you missy, you're not the only one who has a date on Saturday!"

"It's not a date!" she barked and then resumed stabbing the mushed food before her when guilt surfaced "sorry,"

"It doesn't matter, but Ell, guess who" Lily just continued smiling

"Ew, please don't tell me it's Snape"

"Of course not, I don't think I'll be speaking to Snape again." She grabbed a bagel and began ripping it up, obviously nervous and excited

"Who then?"

"Barney Humphries!"

"No way!" Ellie dropped her spoon, milk sloshing down her front, Lily just smiled in admiration, her cheeks slightly pink

"He asked me when I was in the library" she gushed childishly but cutely, Humphries was good looking, smart and definitely sought out for, all the girls loved him. Ellie wasn't surprised by his asking Lily. She was one of the prettiest girls in the school.

"Not buck tooth Barry please!" the 2 girls turned their heads in unison at the sound of the oh so recognisable voice, "excuse me ladies, mind if we join?" the famous marauders appeared and James squeezed onto the bench between Ellie and Lily, Lily was virtually on James' lap, much to his amusement and her repulsion

"What do you guys want?" she spat pushing James away

"Trust me Lily flower, me and Pete would rather be pissing off Peeves" replied a bored Sirius, this caused James to punch his mate and Peter to jump up and down in excitement

"So, Lily, a date with Humphries?" Remus inquired

"Yes, Remus, with Barney. Not 'buck-tooth Barry' Potter!" Lily growled at the ginning boy, his lopsided smile didn't even falter

"And you, Ellie? James tells us you're smitten with Baker?" Remus laughed at the blushing brunette, James called her a traitor to Gryffindor to which Ellie replied by throwing bagel bits at his face,

Sirius' eyes flickered up at the brunette then back away down the table, he was staring at a bunch of 4th years, probably wishing he could be snogging them right now, that's what he always thought about.

"Yeah well, Gryffindor 6th year boys aren't very kind" she got up and Lily followed, the 2 girls made their way out of the grand hall but not before James shouted a compliment at Lily.

Ellie could've sworn she saw her friend blush…

**A/N: Is it me or does this chapter seem shorter? Anyway, what did you guys think, especially about the death-y subject...I figured some goings on in the wizarding world was needed. Review to let me know what you think :) I'm also really excited for the upcoming chapters, so i'll try and update sooooooooon :)**


	18. Punches and pounces

_Thanks to spottedmask12 for the review again, I love you hehe! Guys, I'm kind of proud of this chapter, so if you like it, please review, it'll mean the world to me, thankies :)_

**Punches and pounces **or 'You ruin everything, Sirius Black!'

They Kissed. Ellie and Dylan kissed. This was big news. Big! Why weren't her best friends crowded at the bar gawping and giggling?

Even though she thought she needed friends support, Ellie was slightly happy they had privacy, seeing as it was her first kiss. Nearly 17 and never been kissed, she didn't care if Katherine Lloyd had be kissed when she was 12; Ellie was happy and content and yearning for more. Dylan's lips found hers and began to kiss her gently but then urgently and kind of roughly, she had nothing to compare it to but knew it was amazing.

The warmth of his lips made her insides buzz just like firewhiskey did.

Getting ready to move her hands towards his soft hair and feeling his hands creep onto her waist, readying herself for a full blown passionate kiss in the three broomsticks, they were interrupted by a peep

* * *

"Peter?" Ellie broke away, spotted the 6th year and sighed exasperatedly

"James needs to speak with you"

"James? James Potter, why?" Dylan piped up at the mention of James' name

"He needs too speak to Ellie" Peter squeaked

"We're a bit busy pal" Dylan spoke, he moved his mouth to Ellie's cheek and continued to kiss it gently, automatically making her blush

"Ellie, it's really important, it's about Lily" Peter thumped his fist on the table and they broke apart and stared at him in shock

"Mate, calm down" Dylan picked up his drink and gulped the rest down, he stood up "come on then Ellie," the two followed Peter as he scurried to the door muttering his annoyance

"Peter, what's going on, if this is a prank Sirius and James have-" she stopped, James Potter was sitting on the wall with blood dripping from his nose, he smiled upon seeing the 2 new arrivals

"Ellie! Baker, I trust you are treating the lady right" he winked at Dylan then jumped off the wall and waltzed over,

"Potter, shut up" Ellie whispered angrily, oh God, he was so embarrassing! Dylan just faked laughed nervously

"Evans has got an amazing punch, did you know that?" he touched his nose tenderly and wiped some more blood away

"Wait, Lily did that?" Ellie burst into laughter

"The little red head? Ellie, your mate?" Dylan laughed but received a terrifying glare from James

"She's quite strong!" he defended

"You must have done something…is she hurt? If not, I'm leaving!" She crossed her arms over her chest, the amount of time the Marauders had ruined things for her, she was sick of it.

"Well, could you maybe tell her…" he stopped, he seemed to be pondering on something "that Peter apologises."

"Me? You're the one that knocked out Humph-" Peter began arguing, James punched his mate on the arm and sent him warnings

"You knocked out her date?" her face knotted up and instantly thought of Lily going crazy "Potter, you really have problems!"

"Humphries? The Hufflepuff? Mate, he's alright" Dylan put his arm around Ellie, probably showing James that they were together, he didn't need to worry though. Ellie and James would never…no, they'd never 'get together' or anything weird like that, James loved Lily and secretly Ellie had a funny idea that Lily may have liked him back. James obviously didn't like Dylan's input though as his face glowered

"It's because James loves Lily, he's jealous" Ellie glanced up to the boy standing extremely close to her, his arm was warm and she was going jelloid again

"Ha, Ellie, please…" He made to argue but realised she was right,

"Anyway that's not all!" Peter gushed

"Wormtail!" James growled under his breath, Ellie and Dylan stared at the two clowns relentlessly

"What?" Dylan finally called

* * *

"Regulus punched Sirius. Regulus!" Peter yelled quite excitedly

Ellie was shocked, normally it was Sirius being the violent one, but she couldn't help feel secretly happy, finally, Regulus had stuck up for himself. Properly!

"Well…what? What happened after-" Ellie spluttered

"I beat the crap out of him." A voice appeared behind the group, James smirked, Ellie and Dylan whipped round to see the scruffy looking owner, he waltzed over to his friends and high fived Peter with gusto. Ellie scoffed and rolled her eyes in response and tugged on Dylan to leave

"Concerned, Aldern? About who, me or my brother? I know you have a soft spot for him." Sirius sneered

"Sirius stop acting like a child!"

"Me!"

"Yes, you!"

"I-"

"Ellie, let's go" Dylan pulled on her arm, desperate to leave this awkward encounter but Ellie refused, finally Sirius was ready to argue, time for her to prove her innocence of what ever he accused her of

"Mate, I'd leave it. These two argue all the time, once they get going, no stopping them." James sighed and grinned as he backed up against the wall to watch

"Kreacher's fault!"

"If you had done the charms work by yourself-"

"You didn't write-"

"You were avoid-"

"You-"

"Me?"

"Yes!"

"Stop BLAMING ME!"

"STOP YELLING!"

"I'M ONLY YELLING BECAUSE YOU'RE BEING AN IDIOT!"

"I AM NOT ACT-"

"SHUT UP!"

"What on earth is going on?" a small voice squeaked, all 5 students turned to see professor Flitwick descending towards them, "What is all this noise, stop it, please. Dylan?"

he looked at his house member accusingly then to the 4 Gryffindors

"So sorry professor, I promise, Dylan here wasn't causing any trouble at all." Sirius turned on his sickly sweet voice, sickly, yes, but it did seem to satisfy Flitwick

"I'm afraid I'll have to tell professor McGonagall about this disturbance of peace," he smiled apologetically and dashed off

"Thanks!" Ellie sneered at the 3 boys,

"Look, I'll leave. You two obviously have some, erm," Dylan rubbed the back of his neck nervously, he avoided Ellie's eyes which happened to be filling with hurt and embarrassment, "you two need to sort some things out, I take it."

He turned and swept away leaving Ellie standing alone like an idiot. Sirius snickered behind her.

Ellie slowly turned to look at the 3 Gryffindors, first at Peter, he was easily scared by Ellie's famous scold, then to James who looked at her with pity, this obviously only made her angrier. Then to Sirius who didn't even try to hide the fact he found Dylan leaving absolutely hilarious

"Elladora, you didn't actually think Baker would stick around when he found out how absolutely crazy you are? I mean really, you're stark raving-" Sirius' snide comment wasn't complete, Ellie leapt at him and she started smacking at his arm covered face

"Obnoxious!"

Smack!

"Mean! Nasty! Horrible boy!"

Smack!

"I hate you so much! I hate you!"

Shove!

"I really can't articulate how much-"

Kick!

"I"

Smack!

"HATE YOU!" Ellie virtually screamed in his face, God she was so angry, completely and utterly angry, she was honestly shocked herself at how angry she was, she had never been like this before.

The boys were obviously dazed too, Sirius stood still whilst she feebly attacked him, he slowly moved his arms away from his face as her pathetic pushes and punches were slowing down and causing less impact, his face bore no blemish, no fault, nothing wrong.

He was concerned though, pitying. Whilst he had no protection she swiped up her arm, it wasn't a smack nor was it a punch, just almost a brush away, but it collided with his nose and ever so gently blood began oozing out.

James grabbed her around the waist and pulled her towards him

"Ell, calm down" he whispered gently

"Yes, Miss Aldern, calm down!" a stern voice appeared, but it wasn't belonging to Professor McGonagall, no, someone much worse. Professor Rayners, the defence against the dark arts teacher for that year.

He was worse than McGonagall – strict, mean, prejudice, harsh and just plain horrid. Before he began issuing detentions and insults and scolds, James released her and patted her shoulder sympathetically, Ellie wasn't going to be pitied, she kicked him in the shin then mockingly patted his shoulder as he bent down to caress his leg.

**A/N – that was pretty fun to write, what did you think? Sorry if there were mistakes. Was Ellie a tad over the top? Please review :) I'm really happy about this chapter and oncoming chapters and I have no idea why, yay!**


	19. Dinner and gossip

_Thank you __**Happypanda19**__ and __**Spottedmask12**__ for the lovely reviews! I'm not really violent but tbh I'd hex them too. Gosh, I write Sirius to be awful don't I? :/ Anyway…Just a random chapter, no real purpose except the last line, but it has Ellie and Sirius interactions which is always fun! :) enjoy…_

**Dinner and gossip**

Detention was gruelling, especially in the presence of 3 marauders. One, insanely chirpy and joyful with life. One jittery but excited. And one cold and distant but exasperating all the same. Ellie, along with 3 boys waltzed into the great hall yearning for food.

"Hey, we saved you some dinner" Marlene pushed the plate towards Ellie as she sat at the emptying Gryffindor table, dinner had just finished but people were still snacking, chatting and laughing

"Great, I'm starved!" Sirius budged Ellie out of way to sit where Marlene had placed the food, the irritated girl just sighed and sat beside him; she attempted to tug her food from him but only managed to secure a ketchup covered chip

"You know there is food still on the table, why do you boys enjoy stealing my food" she growled as James picked off a chip or two

"Because they're insufferable pigs?" Lily glanced up from her book and sarcastically smiled at James.

Remus pushed food over to his 3 criminal friends. That's what Alice had called them - James, Sirius, Peter and Ellie. Criminals. Because of their recent bout of detentions, which weren't Ellie's fault. She often argued this case when it involved the marauders.

"Rayners a git! Honestly, cleaning the Slytherin changing rooms was torture." James moaned through a mouthful of bread

"I'm starved!" Peter choked

"Maybe you shouldn't get in detention then!" Lily sang mockingly

It went silent as the four late arrivals tucked into their dinner eagerly; Marlene was watching the Ravenclaw table, concentration on a certain boy, whilst Lily was totally engrossed in her book. Dorcas swept over, her face red and her eyes wide with annoyance

"Dorcas?" Remus worriedly called

"Guess who's back!" she squeezed down next to Ellie and groaned "Macnair, he's back!" the girls groaned in unison.

Macnair was crazy, he had an older brother in 7th year, but this Macnair, Macnair in their year was awful. Gryffindors and Slytherins were rivals, and all the 6th years hated each other, so so Macnair was crazy, extreme and painfully stupid. The story of Macnair was extremely fascinating, his expulsion, his accident over summer and his rivalry with the marauders. Macnair, Mulciber, Avery and Rosier were the main ones actually. The four boys enjoyed harassing girls, and tormenting Gryffindors, they were awful excuses for human beings, often pulling along younger years or victims. Regulus had actually started to hang with them, much to the disappointment of Ellie.

"Oh Lord, I was hoping he was too ill to come back, I swear he tries to grope me once more I'll hex his face right off!" Marlene interjected.

He was one of those. Pureblood fanatic, but also a complete slimeball, chasing after girls. He was a sadist, enjoyed tormenting animals and innocent people. He was expelled in 5th year, but no one knew why, then over summer he was hit in the face with a dark curse by his brother, spent months in St Mungos.

Meaning, months away from the 6th years at Hogwarts.

"I know, he really gives me the creeps" Dorcas sighed

"Don't worry girls, we'll protect you" James grinned proudly

"Get your head out of your arse Potter, we can look after ourselves-" Marlene sneered

"Problem is, we shouldn't have to! We should be carefree and safe here, but we're not with that git on the loose!" Lily cried

"Don't worry, we'll beat him at quidditch and watch him wither away in the hospital wing" Sirius added darkly, Ellie glanced at him, actually slightly nervous.

* * *

"Stop taking my chips!" Ellie continued to fight Sirius over her food, they still weren't talking properly or chummy chummy, but it didn't stop the boy stealing her food.

The main conversation had died away and the boys began discussing a possible Christmas party, Christmas was ages away, but apparently a marauder party needed a month of planning. The girls continued to mutter about Macnair and plans for Christmas, Marlene glanced over at the Ravenclaw table and quietly muttered to Ellie across the table,

"Has Dylan spoken to you yet?"

Ellie glanced up quickly, "no."

"Don't worry about it; if he's going to let these idiots get in the way then he obviously doesn't deserve you!"

"Mar's right, he was probably just afraid of getting a detention" Dorcas rolled her eyes

"Thanks, but still kinda sucks." And that was the truth, she couldn't deny, it was painful seeing him around the school and him ignoring her, as if she was no one.

* * *

"Do you think the Slytherins messed up the room after practice on purpose? It was really filthy" Peter muttered making rubbish small talk,

"Oh definitely Wormy, but, all I know, Ellie couldn't help stare at Regulus' shirt; I'm surprised she didn't sniff it!" Sirius sniggered.

Ellie thumped her fist on the table; the four boys glanced at her, obviously amused

"Obsessed with the young kids that one" Sirius whispered, Ellie huffed as he continued to act like an arse

"Shhh," Remus whispered suppressing a chuckle

"You're right, I should. Don't want the crazy bat attacking me again!" Sirius spoke louder, more confident, he turned and smiled at Ellie. Not a nice smile, a sardonic smile that made her feel foolish.

He knew that the issue of Regulus Black always got to her. Damn, he probably knew his younger brother asked her out. The relentless mocking didn't stop there though, Potter joined in, much to the distain of Lily and Ellie

"More like obsessed with the Black's, but who can blame her Padfoot, you are irresistible" James winked at his best mate and they began to mock flirt with each other, Peter snickered and Remus snorted.

"Now now boys, let's keep it first year friendly!" Marlene laughed

Ellie resumed eating her bread roll, hopefully attention was off her

"But Seriously, Elladora, do you fancy my little brother?" he glanced at her a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth

"You know, I liked it better when you were ignoring me!" Ellie growled

"I'll take that as a yes then?"

"How about you shut up!"

"Regulus and Elladora, I don't know, it doesn't really have a ring to it, does it Prongs?"

"I do not fancy your brother, nor do I fancy you! Like I've said multiple times, I'd rather kiss the giant squid then date a BLACK! You're poison!" Ellie jumped up and stormed from the hall, ignoring the stares.

Ignoring the heartbroken stare of Regulus Black hovering by the door.

**A/N: I feel the need to include Regulus in my story, I find him so interesting! Bit of a pointless chapter but meh, next chapters are Christmassy (tad late but, yay!) If you review, I love you and thankies! :)**

**OH and, I couldn't think of a good chapter title, should I leave it, or any suggestions to what I can change it to? Suggestions welcome :3**


	20. Woe at Christmas

_Thank you to for the review xxSiriusxxforeverxx means a lot ^-^_

**Woe at Christmas**

"OH I WISH IT COULD BE CHRSTMAS, EVERYDAY…"

"LET THE BELLS RING OUT FOR CHRISTMAS!" Ellie and Marlene screamed the remainder of the song as they thundered into the Gryffindor common room, they heard a 3rd year singing loudly the famous Christmas song and decided to join in, but received confused looks from everyone else

"What on earth are you screeching?" called Frank from the sofa; Alice was perched on his lap giggling at Marlene's faux wounded face

"It's a muggle Christmas song" Remus replied, he was sitting next to Frank reading his book "Pretty famous actually" he glanced up and smiled

"Sounds shit to me!" Sirius voiced from the floor by the fireplace, he was dressed in casual robes and turning his quills into butterflies, Ellie couldn't help admire his charm and transfiguration skills

"Yeah, well you listen to stupid wizard rock, you haven't even heard it," Marlene shouted, she was defending her favourite Christmas song

"Mar, leave it, he obviously isn't very Christmassy!" Ellie whispered casually.

Sirius mumbled something in return but Ellie chose to ignore it, she rolled her eyes and threw a look at Marlene indicating it was time to leave

"Christmas is still two weeks away!" a random Gryffindor called

"Getting into the Christmas spirit, I don't know, you should all maybe try it!" Marlene retorted

Ellie heard Alice and Frank discussing the merits of attending Slughorn's Christmas party in a week, then noticed James poke his head up from behind the sofas searching the room for Lily.

* * *

"Dearest Lily?" Marlene called smiling as they came to the entrance hall, Dorcas beside them recalled that she had last seen Miss Evans here

They made to leave when Lily emerged; her face sickly pale and her usually sparkling green eyes were empty and dull

"Lily? Lily! What's the matter?" Marlene ran over to Lily, the latter collapsed into her arms and demanded to be taken outside to the lake, more of a whisper but still a fierce one.

* * *

The snow began falling again, adding to the melancholy feel, Dorcas sat on the rock shivering and stroking Lily's arm, Marlene sat with Lily's head in her lap, the sight was truly painful.

Ellie strolled back and forth along the bank, a few feet away, watching the snowflakes twirl to the ground. The recent news danced menacingly in Ellie's mind, it stung and it ripped her heart in two but she bit back tears, she had to be there for Lily

"Lily, we can ask McGonagall, we're going home for Christmas anyway, I'm sure she won't mind!" Dorcas sniffed

"Dory's right, you shouldn't be alone, isn't that right Ellie?" Marlene looked at the brunette expectantly

"Yeah, of course-"

"My dad." Lily uttered "My daddy." Tears rolled from her emerald eyes "He, he…he can't be…_gone_" lily sat up and stared at her 3 friends, yearning for them to tell her it was all an awful lie.

But it wasn't.

Mr Evans was gone. He died, and no matter what Marlene or Ellie or Dorcas said, they couldn't turn that around, no matter how much they wanted to. They couldn't bear seeing their friend hurting.

"Do you think she'll be okay? 2 weeks without us there, preparing for the funeral, everything, do you think she'll be okay?" Dorcas repeated as they solemnly waved to Lily leaving the castle grounds. She was heading home 2 weeks before everyone else and Dorcas fretting made the whole ordeal more…real.

"I don't know," Marlene shook her head then made for the great hall, both girls asked Ellie if she were coming but she declined; instead she left the castle herself and went to sit by the black lake.

The water was always comforting too her.

Again, the events of the day twirled in her mind and she cried, like properly cried and didn't wished she could be back a few months ago, in May or June when everything was last few months had been getting rough; blood purity was the subject of many discussions, as was Voldemort. He was gaining attention from nearly everyone in the wizarding world, of course the girls hadn't told their muggle parents, it would only worry them.

On top of the new fear striking their world, this happened.

Even though his death was totally unrelated to anything magical, Ellie couldn't help thinking that this was the start. The start of something terrible.

* * *

Ellie struggled up to the common room, it was late and dark and she was positively frozen, her eyes sore and tears dried to her face. She must've looked awful but she didn't care.

James Potter's face emerged from the portrait hole, startling Ellie

"So, you're seeing Lily over Christmas, I assume?" he looked at the floor nervously

"Yes. The funeral is on Sunday after Christmas…" Ellie whispered, she suddenly felt extremely guilty for singing so jolly and carefree earlier when her best friend's heart was literally breaking

"Could you maybe tell her, me and the marauders send our," he didn't finish the sentence

"Of course."

"I couldn't imagine what she's going through…I don't get on with my dad much, but if he ever, if he…I don't know what I'd do" James shuffled awkwardly

"Hmm," Ellie nodded solemnly then left.

When in bed she buried her face into the pillow and cried again.

**A/N: Hey! Christmas is beginning :) well in the story that is! Not much Sirius in this chapter or the next two, but I'm pretty excited about the next chapter, it's kind of fun. What did you think of this chapter, feel free to leave opinions, thank you for reading! :) **


	21. Old Sluggy's Christmas do

_Yo! I'd just like to apologise now for the lack of Sirius in this chapter! Thank you thank you thank you for the reviews. __**NoseBitingTeacup**__and _**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**_ thank you for reviewing, it means a lot, especially because I'm seriously in love with your stories!_

**Old Sluggy's Christmas do**

"REMUS! HURRY UP!" Ellie yelled up the dorm stairs, she adjusted her dress then turned to Alice and muttered "I thought girls were meant to take ages getting ready!"

"Keep your knickers on, Ell!" Remus jogged down the stairs looking extremely smart in his dress robes, he straightened his bow tie then glanced at the two girls shocked "Wow, you look really," he trailed off nervously

Alice giggled then squeaked as Frank emerged from the dormitory and linked his arm with hers, Ellie stood waiting for Remus to lead her away to Slughorn's Christmas party, an annual event that they were always invited to. Remus and Ellie decided to go as friends, nothing more, Lily wasn't there and Ellie really couldn't face it alone, especially with the vast amount of slimy slytherins and daunting possible future employers

"You look really nice, Ellie," Remus spoke gently as he led Ellie towards the dungeons, his warm arm in hers. Ellie was grateful, she spent ages getting ready, she wore her deep blue dress with feathered ends, and it always made her feel pretty. The hallway sparkled with fairy lights and lanterns

"Thanks, you scrub up pretty well too, Remus!" She laughed as he slightly blushed; they entered the party and gawped in shock.

"Ellie, Ellie, Ellie!" Slughorn bounded over clutching a drink, his voice was jolly and his eyes eager "fantastic you could make it, sorry about Lily, I send my commiserations" His face turned solemn but lit up almost immediately after as an elderly wizard emerged from the crowds dragging Alice and Frank

"Horace! Where have you been hiding these fantastic students?" Alice blushed and Frank grinned, they were here sucking up of course. They were desperate to enter the auror training programme. Their ambitions exceeded their dignity, and Ellie could only mockingly judge them with her eyes. To which they replied with a poked out tongues.

"Elphias! Miss Griffins and Mr Longbottom are truly an asset to Hogwarts!" Slughorn praised the 7th years but turned from them, they took this as a chance escape, leaving Ellie with the two older wizards

"Merlin's beard, if it isn't Elladora Aldern"

"Elphias, Elphias, I told you she would be coming"

"Fantastic!"

"Brilliant at charms, rather well at potions too!

"Just like her father, I see!"

"Oh ho, ho! Elphias! You have no idea!" Slughorn rubbed his belly, they both forgot about the subject of their pointless chatter

"Percival was always the intelligent one, Marius the rebellious one! Ah," Elphias sighed reminiscently, these names alarmed Ellie, the first time she heard anything like this, her eyes grew wide and she stared intently at the older wizards. They both turned to her and cocked their heads to the side, she felt like an animal in a cage,

"Has Percival's eyes, ah and the Aldern curls!" Elphias smiled, Slughorn grinned

"It'll be a waste if the ministry don't snatch this one up!"

"Say, Elladora, is it the department of security you'd like to go into, like your mother? I can fix something up," a stern witch appeared at Slughorn's side, her eyes searched menacingly over the confused girl. Ministry of Magic, her mother? Ellie's brain whirled, she wanted more information, she needed it. Yearned for it. Her mouth opened and closed, she must've looked ridiculous

"My, my-" she stuttered "my mother?"

"Ah yes, smart woman, fierce!" the witch included, Elphias and Slughorn nodded in agreement.

The 3 elder magical humans began gossiping excitedly about the ministry and the Aldern's. Ellie tried to take it all in, all of it, but she couldn't, there was too much. She wanted to scream at them to slow down, or to tell her about her mother. Her father. This mysterious Marius and was her mother's name? Why were they chatting mindlessly about the plans for the minister, couldn't they see she wanted to know more, she couldn't get a word in, they dismissed her.

She looked back and forth, pondering on the thought of her mother in the department of security, it was so different to what Ellie thought of, she thought of a delicate housewife or teacher, but finding this out almost made her more proud. Somehow, someway. Ellie was getting flustered, that was obvious, she was ready to scream, to burst…

"Firewhiskey?"

She paused her crazy thoughts and glanced beside her, Remus hovered a glass of clear liquid by her face, Ellie only sighed and turned away.

"Ellie, come on," Remus scurried after her clutching the drink, "I snagged the supplies, students are only allowed butterbeer strictly speaking" he bore a cheeky grin, scarily similar to James' and Sirius'

"Remus Lupin, you crazy rebel!" Ellie giggled and took the drink, she gulped it down and shuddered, it warmed her throat and instantly tingled her brain.

"I'm afraid my dear friends are rubbing off on me"

"Where are those idiots then?" Ellie grabbed at another drink

"Uninvited, you remember the great Christmas party last year. The fire? The crying 7th year? The toads?" Remus cried dramatically, Ellie smiled at the thoughts of the 5th year party, absolutely bloody brilliant.

It went quiet between them

"Do you want to talk about it, I kind of heard everything. Sorry" the brown haired boy shuffled

"You don't have to apologise, and no. Not really. But seriously? 10 minutes here and I already want to run away, that's kinda messed up! Thanks anyway Remus" Ellie held his arm for a moment then skulked off, she spotted Snape loitering in the corner with a look of pain, she noticed a petrified 1st year conversing with an elderly witch and Alice and Frank kissing and slow dancing in the centre. She decided to migrate to the food. Her only comfort at the moment, she only wanted to eat but someone caught her attention.

* * *

"I'm sorry" she breathed gently, more like a squeak, the boy slowly turned, he looked rather handsome, pale face, grey eyes, short neat black hair

"Leave me alone!" he snarled and turned back to the food

"You can't pretend like I'm no one!" she replied gingerly

"You are no one"

"Regulus" She touched his arm to turn him around, "I've tried to apologise, you know I didn't mean it, I-"

"You did mean it though!"

"Okay, okay, fine! Yes, I did. I'm sorry but you and your brother make my head spin like crazy, I couldn't date either of you-" she replied urgently

The colour drained from his face, "I didn't mention anything about Sirius"

"I know, I know, but, what you heard in the great hall, I was just angry! Anyway it was ages ago, please get over it. I feel awful enough" she stopped to let him reply, he didn't. "Please don't be petty" she was exasperated

"I'm not."

"I didn't even know you fancied me!" she was lying, she did, well, not until Sirius pointed it out in detention before summer, before that, she honestly didn't know.

"Oh, come off it Ellie, why wouldn't I? You're a pureblood, talented, always nice to me… and," he trailed off embarrassed

"Well, I am sorry." Her voice was stern, she was fed up, and this was getting kind of ridiculous

"And I know you wouldn't want to ever date me. Besides, I can't date you, you're older and…and a bloodtraitor" his voice sounded almost apologetic at the term he used "And whatever, I forgive you, or whatever the hell it is you want from me, or did you just come to clear your conscience?" he shrugged and turned away again, apparently the magical array of sweets before him were utterly fascinating. Ellie sighed and made to leave,

"You look really pretty tonight." The young boy added quietly

**A/N: The lack of Sirius is annoying, but he actually gets sweeter over the next couple of chapters (unfortunately not the next one, but after that, I promise) NoseBitingTeacup - I tried to slow down my narration, but like you said, it is quite difficult at the moment. Reviews greatly appreciated. Much love guys! :)**


	22. And the horror continues

_**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ – Thank you, for the review, I normally root for the underdogs too, but lol wouldn't it be weird if Remus were to date Ellie? Hmm, interesting. __**NoseBitingTeacup**__, I'm glad you like my Regulus, thank you :)! __**Spottedmask12**__ ahh I know, I'm sorry :( he's not really present at the moment, but do not worry he'll be lovely old Sirius again sooooon :)_

**And the horror continues**

"Ally, I don't care if he's a creepy old man, he has links!" Frank whispered

"Frank! I refuse to be perved on!" the petite girl growled back

"Am I the only one finding this unbearably painful?" Ellie chimed in

"I think that 2nd year just drank some firewhiskey" Remus whispered slightly concerned. The four Gryffindors huddled in the corner regretting coming to the disastrous party. They started sniggering at the idea of a drunk 2nd year but hushed as Slughorn passed with some friends, desperate to avoid his presence

"This sucks" a fifth voice included

"Yup, it-" Ellie snapped her head up immediately before continuing, her heart stopped

"Hey," the voice was smooth and calm, he put his hand on her waist and pulled her from the group, his hair flopped in his face again

"What are you doing here?" Ellie was shocked to see him, but happy

"I was invited. I am captain of the quidditch team, perfect trophy for Slughorn to show off" he sounded bitter but instantly changed the tone, his smile didn't falter

"Oh,"

"Ellie, I'm sorry, about what happened last month, I was just alarmed,"

"Not what you expected?"

"Not really, you and Sirius," Dylan rubbed his forehead nervously "you both seem to have a weird history, and I don't think you're completely comfortable with him?"

"I hate him." Ellie didn't smile or laugh, she was serious

"It's taken you November to discover that? It's taken you an entire month to come see me?" he grinned

"I was waiting for you to come to me!" Ellie playfully pushed his arm, was she really going to forget his abrupt absence for the last month, the fact that she pondered over him constantly and had to bite back tears of hurt when she saw him in the halls?

_Yes_.

She stood on tip toes to reach his face and pecked his cheek with her warm lips, his eyes twinkled and her heart skipped a beat. Again.

* * *

Two hours - they danced, they sucked up to wizards, they avoided people, they drank and drank and drank. Two hours went quite quickly, so when they slowly danced in the centre of the room, they regretted having to bid farewell. They kissed gently then parted ways. Dylan was romantically beautifully utterly perfect.

Ellie forgot about her angst and dramas and smiled into Remus' shoulder as he helped her up the stairs to Gryffindor common room. He laughed at her slurred words and excited chatter about the Ravenclaw. Remus was gently tugging her through the portrait hole laughing as she stumbled and yelped "You're mad, Ell...really, really mad" he smiled comfortingly, she was about to snap back cheekily when she felt warm hands on her back, Peter was tugging at her nervously as she clambered through to the common room

"Ell!" Marlene charged at Ellie

"Mar Mar, what on earth are you doing up, its 1AM!" Ellie scolded her friend

"Hypocrite" peter muttered

"Shh, Peter, shh" Ellie slurred

"Alice told me! You're talking to Baker again and KISSING him?" Marlene pulled her friend over to the dying fire, "Ell, he ignored you for the month!" the blonde grabbed her friend's shoulders. She did have a point. He did ignore her, but she couldn't help fall for his shiny eyes and adorable smile.

"But he's really good looking and sweet and romantic and kind and gorgeous and ugh, beautiful!" she sighed dreamingly. She knew she must have sounded like Lily when she chanted about one of her favourite Austen books.

"No offence Ell, but he's only chatting to you again because you look utterly gorgeous tonight!" Marlene's attempt at a whisper was failing

"She's got a point" James Potter appeared at the bottom of the dorm stairs, he winked at Ellie and strode over to Remus, "Moony, you dirty stop out!"

"Shut it!" Remus sighed

"But he apologised, what more can he do." Ellie smiled

"You're such a push over" Marlene shook her head as Ellie broke from her clutches

"Tonight was weird!" Ellie groaned and flopped onto the sofa

"I second that!" Remus added shuffling by the door

"Slughorn's crazy friends... I spoke to Regulus too!" Ellie said casually, "that was odd," she muttered to herself, she jumped up from the sofa and skipped happily to the dorm stairs, tiptoeing gently up. She watched her feet touch the red carpeted steps when her head brushed against a torso trying desperately to stick to the wall, she glanced up

"If you're trying to eavesdrop, it's not working well." Ellie mocked, Sirius raised an eyebrow at the slightly tipsy 6th year but didn't reply with a usual insult or retort, he just made to move past Ellie towards the common room

"You shouldn't cross on the stairs," Ellie whispered, "it's bad luck."

"And we don't anymore of that, do we Elladora, love?" he whispered soothingly before departing down the stairs towards his friends.

**A/N: This is very very short, and I updated quite quickly, which is odd. And I know, I'm not proud of this chapter ect, but oh well, pretty excited for the next couple of chapters though…they're cute ^-^ yay! Thanks for reading, much appreciated. The next chapter will be here sooooon! :) yay**


	23. The butterfly and the bird

_**NosebitingTeacup**__, ah yes Dylan, such a git ;) Erm well you can call me K or something, I don't know…I have no idea why my username is Beardybob, like seriously, was I high when I made this…? __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ – Thankyou, and ah no worries, any review means so much, thank you (oh btw when I reviewed your story, I spelt 'good ' wrong, because I'm a boob..sorry) :) __**Happypanda19**__ – ooh a love triangle…or would it be square…? Never thought about that and thanks for reviewing. __**TheDayDreamerandHerDreams**__ - Thankyou for reading! :)_

_Kay, so you might find this super jumpy, and an incredibly fast transition and narration (sorry teacup) buuuut, it's now Christmas holidays, not at school and such. Enjoy…_

** The butterfly and the bird**

"It's Christmas," He shuffled on the doorstep, he wore a Father Christmas hat and a bright green scarf, very festive

"That it is," she wasn't in the best mood ever, but realised he must've been freezing, "do you want to come in, you must cold?"

"Nope, only dropping by."

"Come on, it's cold, come inside" she tugged at his arms

"Ellie! You're ruining this!" He laughed roughly and pulled her back, he pulled her towards him and their faces touched gently. They looked at each other for a moment, his eyes staring deeply into her brown ones, until she tore from his stare and stepped back; she was only in her silk dressing gown and was frozen.

She laughed loudly as snow began falling again and landing in his hair, her hands flew up to his hair to ruffle the crystal pieces away, he struggled away embarrassed, like a child but smiled gently. Ellie heard someone clear their throat behind her and let her arms drop, the boy in the doorway smiled lazily with an almost guilty expression, Ellie turned to her pale faced father

"Hi, Mr Jaspers, it's ni-"

"Finally, this one's smart, Ell" he acknowledged and stepped forward, took the boys hand and shook it sternly "the other lad couldn't get my name right whatsoever, 'Mr Aldern'" Ellie's father cut in, scoffing at the idea of Mr Aldern

"Dad," Ellie whispered warningly at her father, his face was stern but relaxed and chuckled

"Yes, of course, only joking, son. He's a nice lad, anyway, pleasure to meet you-" the elder man waved his newspaper around and motioned for the visitor to step inside

"I'd love to Mr Jaspers, but I really must get going, I came to drop Ellie's present off, I'm sorr-"

"No, no, that's fine, maybe another time? Round for dinner one day? What do you say Ellie?"

"Why are you being so nice?" She glared at her father suspiciously

"Don't be cheeky!" He laughed and stalked away muttering happily about mince pies and the good manners the boy has, she just rolled her eyes and faced the handsome boy again

"My dad…"

"He's great!" He smiled and handed her a small parcel wrapped in gold tissue paper, he lent towards her and whispered "Merry Christmas, I'm sorry for everything." He grinned in her face then stepped from the doorway

"Hey! Hey, why…?" as the boy sauntered away in the snow covered road, he yelled back

"Because I've acted horrible lately, oddly enough I am actually sorry!" Ellie only smiled then closed the door gently.

* * *

She looked down to her hand and pulled at the ribbon and let the paper unfold, revealing a silver necklace, the charm at the end was a butterfly. Ellie's favourite. She smiled and gasped as the butterfly's wings began fluttering and the colour sparkled and changed ever so gently. She had been in the magical world a long time, but rarely saw beautiful magic like this. Completely and utterly wondrous.

"Ooh, that's beautiful, Ellie, who's it from?" Mrs Jaspers emerged from the kitchen; apron covered in flour, Mr Jaspers followed stuffing a mince pie in his mouth,

"Ah, very nice, much better than the other one, you know the one with the silly pigeon"

"Eagle," she corrected

"Whatever, that lad there knows you pretty well..." he nodded and sprayed crumbs everywhere causing Mrs Jaspers to scold him and push him towards the kitchen again.

Ellie held the butterfly necklace up to the light and smiled.

**A/N: Okay, so I know it's a tad confusing, but I'm sure we'll live ;) and ergh it's really short *cries* but the next chap is longer! Yay! Hey, I was thinking about changing my name…beardybob is so daft, I originally only made this to just review ect, I never thought I'd actually write a story. So, should I change it, or would it be confusing...should I just leave it?**

**Oh and Happy Easter! :)**


	24. Make ups and break ups

_Hey! Thank you for the reviews, as fellow writers, I'm sure you know how awesome it is when people review ^-^_

_**NoseBitingTeacup**__- Review appreciated as always, feel free to ramble, I enjoy reading it :') Hope you enjoy this chapter, 'tis longer :D __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ – Thank you! I kinda did do it on purpose, just because, it kinda failed but meh…_

**Make ups and Break ups**

"Come on Miss Aldern, we're going on an adventure" Ellie raised her eyebrows causing the scantly clad Marlene to sigh, "Okay, it's not an adventure, a party. Come, come, get ready!" Marlene pushed herself through Ellie's front door followed by Lily and Dorcas

"Party? No, I don't think so, I normally spend New years with mum and-"

"But they had that work party, remember" Marlene smirked and pulled Ellie up the stairs to her bedroom. Damn, Ellie thought her friends would forget about that. Marlene wore an extremely short glittery number with black stilettos; Ellie couldn't help think that she looked pretty sexy. Lily jumped on the bed and climbed under the covers, her dress wasn't as short but still short for Miss Evans, she sighed as Marlene began throwing dresses around the room

"Who's party? I don't really feel-" Ellie scrambled to collect the clothes strewn across the floor

"The Marauders" Dorcas recalled as she perched on the edge of the bed

"What?" Ellie stared at the 3 girls fairly alarmed. Since when did Lily willingly go to a party hosted by James Potter, Ellie voiced this opinion which resulted in a pillow flying at her head. They had spoken over Christmas, of course, about the heartache which had struck them before the holidays. Lily was getting better. But better enough to go to a party? Ellie wasn't sure.

"Like I'd want to go to a party with that arrogant toe rag! I've been coerced into it, by my so called friends! Seriously guys, I'd rather snuggle up at home with-"

"Petunia?"

"No-"

"It'll be fun!"

"Yeah, you know their parties are always amazing!"

"Come on! Ell?" Dorcas glanced at the quiet brunette eagerly. Dory only wanted to go so she could talk to Remus. Everyone knew that Dorcas loved Remus and Remus loved her. They were both too shy to act on it. Maybe tonight would change that…

"Erm…" she paused and contemplated the idea of a drunken James, "whatever."

"Great!" Marlene squealed running to Ellie with a pink prom like dress, rather short with a love heart neck line, Ellie rolled her eyes and unenthusiastically tugged at the dress.

* * *

"Lily, how are you? You look really nice! How are you feeling, how was Christmas, are you alright? Hey! I'm only trying to be nice, why do you keep running off?" James scuttled after the redhead as she dodged his embrace and made for the kitchen.

Mr and Mrs Potter were no where to be seen but quite a few Hogwarts students filled the huge Potter home. Ravenclaw Murray from 5th year potions class was there. As was Mary McDonald, fellow Gryffindor. Reg Cattermole from Hufflepuff. A series of ex students as well as unknown witches and wizards. The atmosphere was lively and typically Marauder-esque.

"Drink?" Ellie smiled at the voice and turned to face him, he was beautiful. Dylan gazed at her grinning

"Sure!" she smiled

"I'm glad we got to hang out over Christmas, I hope you liked your present!" he handed her a glass

"I did! Thank you, it was really sweet of you!" Ellie pulled him over to the sofas and perched lightly on the arm, she couldn't help smile at his happiness and carefree persona. She knew fancying Dylan Baker was one of the better choices in her life, he was a darling really.

They began chatting aimlessly. Ellie glanced around the room as she heard Marlene squealing but just laughed it off, she wanted to face Dylan again but someone had caught her eye. His shaggy hair flying around haphazardly, his arms swaying and his voice wooing over the thumping music. He stopped acting like a drunken fool and caught Ellie's eye, he grinned wildly and waltzed over, his grey eyes glazed…he was obviously a little drunk.

"I see you're wearing my necklace!" Sirius called as he moved forward and reached down to the hollow of her throat, where the delicate butterfly charm was resting on her skin. His hand brushed her skin making her shiver. He smiled gently, Ellie sensed Dylan gawping at the necklace then to her face then to Sirius, he looked at Ellie annoyed

"Black," Dylan cleared his throat uncomfortably, Sirius woke from what seemed like a trance and dropped the butterfly, letting it plunge back onto Ellie's chest.

"Baker, What on earth are you doing here?"

"I was invited" his words came out like a snarl and his face twisted and scowling "And I'm trying to talk to Ellie here," his glare was growing stronger

"Ah, Baker. Sorry, I didn't realise you came with dear Elladora" Sirius chugged back the contents of his glass and winced

"I didn't come with anyone, just because I'm a girl, it doesn't mean I _need_ to come with someone!" Ellie spoke up; it wasn't defiant or angry, just matter-of-factly

"Being over-analytical again, good to have the same old Ellie back, I guess" he grinned, "Like I said, good luck with that one mate!" Sirius nodded at Dylan and swept away

"Ignore him, he's an idiot!" Ellie slipped off the arm of the sofa and half onto the cushions half on Dylan's thigh; he shuffled awkwardly as he watched Sirius leave

"It is a nice necklace" his tone was bitter and Ellie couldn't help regret that encounter, she hated when people weren't at ease; she sensed something was going to happen between her and Dylan.

She inwardly moaned "I only wore it because it matches the dress" she laughed it off but he still looked hurt, she clambered off the seat and pulled him up, they slithered through the people out into the kitchen, she pushed a fresh glass of firewhiskey into his hands and sipped at one herself. The silence was awkward.

"I don't know what you and Black are doing, but it's weird. I don't like him, and I don't like how he treats you, yet you seem to like him" he swirled the glass causing the clear liquid to slosh messily

"I don't like him. He's sort of a mate. Sort of. Actually, no, he's not a mate. Look, I don't know, it is weird, I can't really explain it." She busied herself with her drink.

She was telling the truth after all, what was Sirius to her? One moment, nasty and cruel, the next giving her beautiful necklaces and saying sorry. Since when did Sirius apologise for being…off?

"It's my last year. I don't want to waste time on-"

"Silly girls?" she glanced at him, she knew what he was thinking, he ruffled his hair nervously and smiled apologetically, Ellie would miss that, call her dramatic or whatever but she knew where this was going

"I don't think I need… a girlfriend"

"Well, technically we never really were boyfriend and girlfriend" she placed her glass on the counter and intertwined her fingers busying herself with her chipped nail polish... why was she so calm and carefree?

"Wow, at least you're not crying, or whatever it is girls do" he laughed

"Yeah, well…I don't cry much anyway" she whispered, she was hurt, all of this because of a stupid necklace?

"You're not…you're not upset are you?" He lowered himself to look at her bent head, she was avoiding his gaze, this was embarrassing enough "come on, you said it yourself, we weren't really going out after all."

"Is this honestly because Sirius gave me a stupid necklace?"

"No-, no, I-" he stuttered clumsily, he looked at her sympathetically but then his expression changed to a scowl "I can't be with you with _him_ on my heels every second. Those Marauders…they're EVERYWHERE!" he pulled himself up into a normal position, if not slightly rigid, he was obviously angered

"Oh." Ellie uttered the syllable ever so quietly. She stood there silently…what was she meant to do? Dylan stayed put, maybe expecting Ellie to say something, or to break down and beg him to stay or maybe even to get a snog out of the awful situation. He huffed as she remained silent. He sighed annoyed then and slithered away leaving her in the kitchen alone.

She shook from her sulk and scuttled from the kitchen herself, she tiptoed around the house quietly, thinking to herself about the New Year's Eve party. She didn't even want to be here.

* * *

"Enjoying yourself?"

"Oh, yeah! Tonnes"

"What was that with Baker?"

"I think I just got dumped"

"Ouch!"

"Ouch indeed. We weren't really going out anyway…"

"Excuses, excuses"

"Shut it Potter!"

"Nice necklace" he glanced at the beauty on her neck grinning cheekily

"This bloody necklace! It's caused so much shit. A necklace! That's all it its, Jesus Christ!" her hand flew to her neck and grimaced

"It's nice" he stifled a laugh as she stumbled down the stairs

"Shut up Potter!" she growled, she heard him following and groaned inwardly

"Prongs, this bird, that one, the blonde one, mate, she's a pretty amazing sh-" Sirius bounded towards his best friend but stopped the sentence abruptly upon seeing Ellie with him

"An amazing what?" Ellie asked mocking innocence, a smirk playing on her lips

"An amazing sh-shaker" he cleared his throat "dancer, an amazing dancer!" Ellie laughed loudly as he stupidly tried to cover his small faux pas. What was with him, normally he wouldn't shy away from bragging about his multiple 'sh-shakers!'

He bounced back quickly though, he smirked at the moping girl, "Why the long face Ellie?"

"Baker dumped her"

"JAMES!" Ellie turned quickly and glared dangerously at the messy haired boy

"Wha- what, he did!"

"No he didn't, technically we didn't really go out," she shrugged and walked away, again followed by the 2 boys

"Was it the necklace?" Sirius asked not even hiding his mocking tone

"It's a necklace! Get over it!"

She stomped off, although not before hearing:

"Butterflies, how'd you know?"

"Hey, I know a lot."

Ellie smiled gently then shook her head. Okay, so Sirius wasn't her mate, well she didn't know what he was to her, especially after the last couple of months, but at least someone knew her. Her dad was right. Dylan was stupid. Why would she want an eagle around her neck, apart from owls, birds freaked her out.

"Oof, I'm sorry" Ellie snapped out of her inner thoughts as she tumbled into a couple intertwined in the doorway

"'Sfine" the boy mumbled turning to look at her

Ellie's mouth turned into a perfect O as she glanced at the couple before her. Her eyes narrowed and sly smirk played on her lips, inwardly, she was squealing in delight but decided to act cool

"Remus, Dory" the curly haired girl stared shocked at her friends then giggled shamelessly "continue, continue" she gestured with her hand, she squeezed past them out of the door glancing back grinning with glee, they didn't care, they were already attached again, kissing urgently. She shook her head laughing and sat carefully down on a large boulder. That was quick, she thought.

* * *

The time was 11.53, it was nearly midnight, meaning drunken people kissing and crying, promising to have a better year.

Ellie sat on a rock, the weather was pretty mild for winter, the sky was clear and crisp – perfect for watching the already erupting fireworks

"BOO!" slurred Sirius; he jumped out at her and sat beside her puffing on a cigarette

"I didn't know you smoked" she acknowledged quietly

"Yeah, Prongs and I are trying to quit. It's hard, you know!" he glanced behind him as he heard a squeal of laughter, he chuckled then turned back. It was quiet.

And awkward.

"So did you really like the necklace?" he grinned, cigarette hanging from his lip

"Very pretty!" she nodded and smiled before focusing on her hands, it went painfully quiet again. She heard Sirius' rough breathing beside her and his quick inhale of smoke. A cloud of smoke emerged as he puffed out the toxic air from the cigerette. Still sitting shoulder to shoulder, Ellie felt his warm arm nudge her gently. "This is really petty. We were beginning to be friends!" Ellie moaned quietly beside him

"Yeah"

"I mean, really, what did I do? You can't just hate me then give me a necklace and then expect me to be all happy again. It doesn't work like that. I don't…" she shook her head trailing off, she didn't know how to finish that sentence. She didn't expect an answer either, so it was safe to say she was fairly alarmed with his truthful response

"You didn't do anything wrong Elladora." he took a drag absentmindedly "I don't know, I guess I was ashamed. You're my friend and I, I let her speak to you like _that_, I let her treat you like rubbish. And…well, it sucks." Sirius trailed off awkwardly avoiding Ellie's gaze, she turned to look at him is surprise

She smiled gently, finally getting to the point that had bugged her for months

"I'm sorry" she breathed

"Me too" he smiled down at her then laughed gently, people started counting down from 10 and cheering. Poppers erupted along with hundreds of fireworks painting the black sky. Ellie finally felt happy and at ease for the first time in months, it was a nice feeling.

He draped an arm around her and shuffled closer, "How about a quick make up snog then?" he winked

"Sirius!" she whined

"I'm kidding," he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and chuckled roughly in her ear

"Happy New years, Ellie" they both looked at each other and smiled again. He really did have a nice smile.

**A/N: How incredibly fluffy was the ending...The break up of Dylan and Ellie is super rushed, but he was bugging me and I wanted him out of here! Annnd I know the whole Remus/Dorcas thing is kinda rushed too..but oh well. About the whole name change thing, I am a girl btw, I think I may just keep Beardybob, purely because I can't think of anything else and it's ugh, effort :P But feel free to call me anything like K or Kate or whatever :) I'm not fussed…heck even call me bob if you want *shrugs***

**Okay, so, I kind of have chapter 26…but I don't have chapter 25, so if I don't update super quick, I apologise! But I'm thinking and typing and avoiding school work, so hopefully I'll update soooon :) Please read, review and enjoy! ^-^ **


	25. I Don't Hug

_Thank you __**NoseBitingTeacup**__ but your review made me laugh, it's always appreciated, and I totally agree about Lily and Ellie thinking of a drunken James :) ehehe! Thank you __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ again for reviewing! __**Happypanda19**__ – Yay, I know right, I was happy about Sirius and I'm glad you are too. __**Spottedmask12**__ – Thank you for reviewing at all, means a lot :) This chapter, idk, it doesn't flow…I didn't know what to write, but please read and enjoy :)))_

**I don't hug.**

"You can't pretend that the war isn't coming"

"He's getting stronger each day, he needs you. We're in the process of gaining more, but come on-"

"You expect him to recruit 15 and 16 year olds, don't be stupid!" the growls and snarls slithered sneakily from the open window. Ellie never was one for eavesdropping but the harsh tones caught her attention, and she found herself hovering by the train, an ear ridiculously close to the agitated voices. The train whistled and the voices cut out abruptly. She shook from her curious nature and moved towards the door.

Ellie struggled onto the train, tugging at her clunky trunk as well as her thin coat. The January air bit at her cheeks and she sighed as she stumbled onto the narrow corridor. She lurched into the first compartment that was open, no one there, to the next compartment she glanced in. A bunch of giggling 2nd year Ravenclaws ceased their nattering and stared. She raised her eyebrows then scuttled out searching the train for her friends. Entering a large compartment in the middle, she thanked her lucky stars that Marlene was perched there chattering excitedly to a reading Lily.

"God it's freezing!" she moaned, Lily glanced up and smiled

"Ellie! Ellie! Where is Dory? She didn't reply to any of my messages and she is most definitely avoiding me!" Marlene leapt up and grabbed Ellie's trunk, she threw it to the floor and shook her shoulders

"She's not avoiding you Mar. She's probably just scared you're going to mock her!" Ellie struggled from her tightening grip

"Why? It's adorable, well except for the fondling. Jesus they were getting a bit full on weren't they?" Lily voiced snickering

Ellie giggled at the thought of Dorcas and Remus, a little after midnight on January 1st. She had migrated back indoors to find James and Marlene whooping and snapping photos of their two friends kissing eagerly on the sofa, completely unaware of the entire world around them. Ellie snorted and shook her head

"They were getting caught in the moment and I think it was cute that some people are actually being lucky in love!" Ellie laughed then flopped onto the seat, Marlene settling herself down also

"Well, I wouldn't mock-" Marlene stopped, all three girls stopped and turned their attention to open door. A streak of dirty blonde hair dashed past, it took them a while to register what was occurring

"Oi get back here titch!" Marlene screeched, she leapt up and scrambled out of the compartment. After a few thumps and squeals, Marlene re-entered the compartment, Dorcas struggling behind her

"Mar, I have to go to the prefect compartment!" she cried "Lily, tell her!"

"Sorry Dory, but prefect duties can wait!" Lily mused; she pulled her feet onto the seat, threw her book to the side and stared expectedly at the shy Hufflepuff

"They're right Dory, you can't go snogging Remus Lupin then not expect to explain it" Ellie grinned

"But…it was…I didn't! Well what about you, Elladora, you can't expect to split with gorgeous Baker and not share!" Dorcas moaned

"What? How did-"

"Everyone knows! But you after! First, Dorcas!" Lily squealed

Dorcas sat apprehensively next to Lily "fine!"

The all grinned at each other before turning their attention back to Dorcas, her cheeks were flushing but the smile on her face was enough to make the Cheshire cat jealous.

"Well?" Lily persisted "Ugh, I knew you and Remus would make a sweet couple, you always stare at each other in prefect meetings" Lily sighed. Dorcas blushed and Marlene scoffed

"I don't care about googly eyes! You two snogged shamelessly at the Marauders party! Explain! Details!" Ellie smiled sympathetically at Dorcas who seemed desperate to leave this compartment.

"He's so lovely." She giggled breaking out into a shameless smile

"Remus Lupin, huh…I didn't expect him to be so James and Sirius like" Marlene thought allowed, wiggling her fingers, Lily threw a look in the blondes direction

"She's got a point though; I didn't expect Remus to, well, get in there straight away!" Ellie said. The girls broke out into a fit of laughter

Dorcas puffed out her breath then spoke in one huge ramble

"Oh I know! We were just talking and then he asked if I wanted a drink and I was like okay and he was like cool and then we started chatting and you guys know how I can't really handle my drink. So I just kinda blurted out that I liked him a little which was really embarrassing I couldn't believe it, my cheeks were burning and I wanted to die but then he smiled at me and ergh his smile is so adorable" she stopped and looked at everyone "and we kissed." She squealed gently before thumping her fists on Lily's thigh "He kissed me and then said he liked me too and then we started snogging, like really snog-"

"Whoa! Chill!" Lily laughed rubbing her leg soothingly

"Yeah Dory, calm down!" Marlene mused

"I think it's lovely. Remus is amazing" Ellie nodded. Dorcas grinned to no one in particular as Marlene crossed her arms and sighed angrily "I just had a shocking thought!"

"Don't hurt yourself Mar," Lily called

"Shut it ginger, I was thinking. James and Lily are painfully adorable, in love and are going to get, you know-" Lily made to protest but Marlene moved to throw her hand over the redhead's mouth "Ellie and Sirius obviously have a thing for each other," Ellie was only paying half attention but startled when hearing that, she spluttered and laughed nervously

"Marlene, the things you think of are, are just horrific!" Ellie crossed her arms and glared

"Oh Elladora, don't even deny it. You two have chemistry, which is extremely odd, but wasn't my point." She smiled and continued her ridiculous theory "And Dory here is in love with Remus" Dorcas didn't even try to deny it, "So if you're all paired up with the marauders, does that mean… I get Peter?" she grimaced

They all burst into laughter at her scowl.

* * *

As Dorcas and Lily departed to the prefect compartment, Marlene made a point of complaining that Ellie was boring her so she left. Ellie didn't mind, she shrugged and she herself decided to roam around the train. She figured she needed a catch up with those 4 Gryffindors anyway...

Absentmindedly strolling along the corridor, Ellie stopped upon hearing the hearty chuckle of Sirius Black. She stopped outside the closed door and raised her hand to the handle but stopped –

"No, but seriously mate, you weren't doing that whole 'treat them mean to keep them keen' thing were you, to Ellie that is?" James asked

Ellie pushed her head slightly towards the door a bit farther, she knew she shouldn't eavesdrop, it had been the second time that day after all and she had always scolded others for doing it, after all. But she was intrigued, yet again.

"Prongs," Sirius sighed

"He's right though, and if you were, mate, it didn't work" Remus chided

"No, I really wasn't doing that. She just…she just infuriates me sometimes and I don't know how to react"

"But you missed her?" James' voice was curious

"Big time!" Ellie could hear the laughter in his voice and grinned to herself. She stepped from the door and waited a few minutes before barging in.

"Hello!" Ellie smiled, four grins greeted her, a quick wink from James, a smirk from Sirius, a hug from Remus and a wave from Peter. She could get used to this happiness, it was pretty nice. She dropped onto the seat beside Peter and pulled her feet up, taking in the conversation around her, smiling to herself.

* * *

"Prefect compartment" Remus explained as he rose and threw on his robe after around an hour of pointless yet hilarious chattering

"Great I'll come!" James shouted leaping up

"No way. So you can annoy Lily? Sit down Prongs" Remus scolded

"Hey, you're only going so you can stare at Dorcas!" James whined

Sirius looked up and snickered, he winked at Remus and nodded knowingly. The prefect looked mortified and scuttled from the compartment. Ellie couldn't help notice he looked incredibly chuffed with himself though.

"Children." Peter muttered under his breath, Ellie looked from the door to Peter and bark out mocking laughter at James' expense

"Shut it Wormy!" James growled

"Instead of worrying about girls," Peter huffed clambering off the floor, "I'm going to find the food trolley." He stormed from the compartment

"Ooh what's got him so uptight?" James asked then scurried out after Remus. Ellie laughed and shook her head, she turned her attention back to her newspaper.

"Your friends are crazy" she stated. Being left alone with Sirius didn't bother her, in fact she didn't care. It was nice to just sit in his company, reading a newspaper trying to find intelligence in a jumble of terrible gossip. He cleared his throat and looked to her from across the seat, his long legs resting on the seat, inches away from her thigh. She ignored what she deemed as a sniffle or tickly throat until he gently kicked her leg.

"Elladora?"

"Sirius?"

"Ellie"

"Sirius!"

"Stop that" his voice was annoyed

"Stop what?"

"Just…don't worry" he sighed a look of irritation on his handsome face; she glanced up from her reading and smirked. She was thankful she could go back to teasing him. It made life much more fun.

"Can you stop looking at me like that?" she growled softly

"Like what?" he grinned but then his lovely grin melted away, smiled sympathetically "Moony told me about Slughorn's. You alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, great. Really. Why wouldn't I be, I'm cool," she nodded enthusiastically

"You said you're fine way too many times"

"Well, I am, I'm fine. Really," she persisted, as his eyebrows climbed up his forehead sceptically, truth was, she was fine, she hadn't really thought about it at length. Too much drama with Christmas and the girls…

"Found out who they are?" he was asking about Percival and Marius of course…

"Nope."

"Are you going to?"

"Probably"

"When?"

"I don't know"

"Want some help?"

"Maybe"

"God, Elladora, you're difficult to talk to right now" he whined throwing his head back to the wall.

"Well I'm trying to read and you're ruining that!"

He merely picked up his magazine and scanned it bored. They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes.

Yet again reading made Sirius Black bored. He dropped his magazine in his lap and sighed, Ellie looked up and smiled, he smiled gently back but it looked as if he wanted to converse some more. Maybe she could ask him about quidditch, yes, quidditch was always a good thing to discuss…

"I don't hug." His voice was lazy and contained a twinge of defiance

"I…what?" Ellie let her shoulder slack "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not a big hugger." He shrugged

"Oookay…" she raised her eyebrows at his abrupt if not slightly random statement

He sighed "I feel like we should hug."

"Why should we hug" she crossed her arms, this conversation was starting to be pretty hilarious

"We've barely had physical contact in the last 4 months. I feel like we should hug"

"Sirius, I don't want to hug you"

"But I'm not a big hugger, well I know I hug everyone and stuff but I meant, like a real hug. Like…" he trailed off thinking about the correct word

"I don't want to hug"

"You know, like a real- why not?" he sounded wounded

She laughed at his confused expression "We don't need to hug Sirius."

"But…Okay, yeah. Good, because I don't hug"

"Like you said." Ellie smiled then looked back to her newspaper; she could feel Sirius' eyes linger on her face though so gazed up smirking "Sirius?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you like a hug?" nodding gently, laughter in her voice

"Jesus, Elladora, I just told you I don't hug!" he grinned paused but then leapt up. He threw Ellie's paper on the floor and tugged her up also. Standing face to face, he wrapped his arms around her podgy body and enveloped her. She apprehensively brought her arms around his waist and squeezed back. She absentmindedly laid her head upon his chest and breathed in casually, smelling Sirius' new cologne. It fused with a mixture of soap and cigarettes and she couldn't tell if she liked it or not. She smiled into his chest then gently pulled away, grinning up at the towering boy she chuckled

"I thought you don't hug?"

"I needed a hug from Miss Aldern, I was missing them, they're pretty good!" he flopped back down onto the chair smiling cheekily

"Ah, well I do give remarkable hugs!" she smiled knowingly

"Alright, don't brag. James gives pretty good hugs too" he stated simply

She snorted "Why are you hugging James?"

"Shut up!" he growled chucking a rouge pumpkin pasty at her.

**A/N: My mind has been going a bit mad lately so writing has been difficult so I'm not really happy with this chapter, I mean I like their interaction but I feel it doesn't flow. I couldn't really think of anything to write, plot wise. Therefore it's not the best. I've kind of written the next chapter, sooo…I shall update sooo…Anyway…please read and enjoy! :) ~ K**


	26. Sirius, one and Ellie, nil

_Thank you Spottedmask12, NoseBitingTeacup and xxSiriusxxforeverxx for reviewing! My story is a load of drivel at the moment, but thank you for continuing to read it :)_

**Sirius, one. Ellie, nil.**

"Students! I'm hoping a new term, a new start! You're all old enough and mature enough – well, I hope, anyway, to chose your own partners. Of course this year is just as important and last year and I hope we continue to strive for great grades, last term wasn't... – Mr Potter! Please put the pufferfish eyes away!" James recoiled into his seat putting the jar back in his bag. He scowled at Slughorn, frustrated that he was unable to sneakily drop the slimy eyes into Snape's cauldron. Slughorn rambled on aimlessly for the next couple of minutes clapping his hands together with excitement whilst people migrated around the room, desperate to be paired with their friends.

Ellie perched alone at the back of the room, her eyes desperately searching for Lily or Dorcas. She spotted Lily and comprehension formed on her delicate face, she eagerly waved at the redhead who began strolling over to the curly haired girl

"Sorry, Lily flower, Elladora here already has a partner." Sirius leapt into the seat beside Ellie and pulled out parchment; he grinned at Ellie and glanced back to the redhead "I think James needs a partner though!"

"Lil!" Ellie called as her friend's usually beautiful green eyes flashed dangerously. She shot Ellie and Sirius death glares then whipped away and towards the front "You're terrible, did you know that!" Ellie stifled a laugh

"Why of course! Anyway, potions! I hope you've improved since last year" he chuckled and edged the paper towards her

"Do you really care about potions?"

"Not really,"

"Why aren't you with Remus or James?"

"I do have other friends beside those fine gentlemen"

"Ravenclaw Murray taken?" the two Gryffindors turned their heads to glance at their fellow 6th year - Ravenclaw Murray; she was giggling into a Slytherins ear. She was fairly pretty, long straight black glossy hair, a broad smile which showed her white teeth and a nice figure – exactly Sirius' type.

"She's a snob. I'd much rather spend my time with the humble yet insanely gorgeous Elladora Aldern!"

"I am pretty amazing aren't I?" Ellie grinned then winked

"And modest…full package eh, Ell?" he smirked then glanced down to the table, he laid his head down, as if already exasperated with potions. Note taking first, nothing interesting. He nudged his head over to her arm which happened to be scribbling down notes eagerly

"You're jogging me!" she snarled

He glanced up, his large grey eyes lighting up with mischief and glee at the prospect of annoying Ellie, he raised his head slightly to rest it on her stationary forearm, hindering her from writing. She sighed, she just let him rest his warm head on her arm, she wouldn't win in an argument with him. She never did. Slughorn droned on and-

"Ew Sirius, that's disgusting!" Ellie quickly glanced down to the boy who was slowly raising his head off her arm, "did you, did you...Lick me?" her face was alarmed at his slack expression forming into a menacing grin

"I'm bored, entertain me, Miss Aldern."

* * *

"You wouldn't happen to have salamander tongues in your bag would you?" Ellie asked hopelessly, squinting at the Sirius' messy handwriting. Neither had written down the correct ingredients, they were both content of distracting each other instead. Sirius grabbed his bag off the floor and slammed it onto the desk.

Turning his bag upside down, Sirius merely shook the contents out. Multiple pieces of rubbish and books thundered out. A couple of dungbombs, a sugar quill, a book about shape shifting, 5 bat fanged Frisbees and a huge velvet covered book.

"What is _that_" Ellie cried grabbing at the velvet

"That, Elladora," he said snatching the velvet back "is a book, you know, something you read!" he smirked at her

"I know what it is!" she snarled "I meant what book?"

"Nosy!" he grinned and pressed her nose with his fore finger, she wriggled away annoyed

"Since when does Sirius Black read for pleasure?" she crossed her arms gazing at him

"I'm not. But when curiosity takes over, I guess I have to bust open the big books" he shrugged squashing the Frisbees and spare quills back into his bag

Ellie stood from her stool and leaned over the table and over Sirius' bag, she attempted another swipe at the velvet, Sirius grabbed her wrists and gently pushed her back off the table

"Why won't you let me see the book?" she sighed settling herself back down

"Because it's for me to read" he mocked

"You're so infuriating, it's only a book!"

"Then why are you getting so worked up Elladora? If it's only a book?" he turned to face Ellie full on, the huge book in his hands. The velvet still covering the title she really wanted to see. She didn't know why the title was so important but...but it was. She grabbed the top end of the book, it was huge and her hand barely fit around it and unfortunately the velvet wasn't even budging

"Let go!" Sirius growled

"No!" Ellie snarled back

"Ellie I-"

"Just let me see-"

"Get off- ow, no need to kick ow-"

"What's with the secrets-"

"Ellie!"

"Sirius, let me-"

"What are –"

"Ouch! That hurt-"

"Aldern, I am not playing"

"Nor am I, Black!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Black! Black! BLACK!"

"That's just childish!"

"Let go!"

"It's my book-"

"Mr Black, Miss Aldern? What on earth is going on back there?" Slughorn interrupted. They quickly glanced up

"Nothing!" they cried simultaneously, hands still clamped around the book defiantly, Ellie's face plunged into a deep shade of red as the class tittered at the scene at the back of the room

"I trust you're writing your notes?" Slughorn asked innocently

"Of course!" they cried again, Ellie shot a glare in Sirius' direction

"Stop doing that!" she whispered threatening

"Doing what?" he grinned, the teacher turned his attention from the squabbling pair and back to his precious potions

"Sirius just let me see the title"

"Why are you so desperate to see the title!" he growled

"Because, it must be a bloody good book if you're being this secretive about it!" she retorted

"Notice the key word there Elladora, Secretive. Secret. It means I don't want you knowing what the book is. Really, must you glare like that, it's unattractive!" Ellie relaxed her face, their hands were still grabbing at the book, Sirius tugging every now and then. Obviously not with all his strength though, he was a quidditch player, he had so much more strength and could've easily overpowered her by now, but he just grinned and feebly tugged at it

Ellie climbed from her seat, standing before him defiantly

"Yeah well, I'm curious now!" she pulled at it, his body pulled forward but he still sat mischief dancing in his eyes

She continued pulling at the book, tugging with all her strength, surely the book would slip out of the velvet and into her hands, or his hands would give in eventually

"Fine, you want it so bad?" Sirius detached his hands from the book in lightening speed before she could comprehend what would happen. She held the book in her clutches as she tumbled back roughly, falling towards the very back of the dark dungeon.

Her back collided with the wall and she dropped to the floor with an unflattering 'oof' the class turned at the commotion. She attempted to grab at whatever dignity she had left and started to rise from the floor, but her head made a nasty crashing contact with a rickety wooded shelf above. It creaked noisily and tore off the wall. The couple dozen jars smashed to the floor whilst the shelf smacked down onto her head.

Her eyes watered at the pain pounding on her head, the potions and powders and slimes from the ruined jars began emitting awful smells. She coughed gently as she stumbled forwards, a lump already forming on her head

"Elladora?" Sirius rushed to her "Shit, I'm sorry! I didn't think that would happen, shit" he lowered himself to look into her watering eyes which happened to be swimming with pain and annoyance

"Miss Aldern, hospital wing I think" Professor Slughorn scrambled over concern etching on his usually jolly face

"I'll take her" Sirius volunteered

"No, I'd rather not DIE on the way there thank you very much!" Ellie droned groggily

"She's just kidding, Sir" Sirius laughed and threw Ellie's arm around his neck "come along Elladora"

They struggled from the dungeon and clambered up the stairs

"Are you okay?" Sirius' voice was rough and urgent

"mmmfinesiriusss" she mumbled as her voice slurred on, her legs weakened and her eyes shut slowly, she felt Sirius' grip tighten but she was too tired to tell him to stop grabbing.

* * *

"I knew being friends with Sirius Black was a bad idea" Ellie mused as the Marauders swaggered into the hospital wing. She must've looked a state. Bandage around her head and red cheeks. Unsightly.

"Padfoot is a danger to us all" Remus laughed as he placed flowers in the vase beside her bed, she muttered her thanks

"I'm leaving tonight," she told them before they could ask relentlessly like the girls had this morning

"Thank god, you've been in here 2 days already, I need my potions partner back" Sirius cried

"No way, I don't think so!" Ellie shook her head but instantly regretted it

"What?" He stared at her pretending to be hurt

"You…you're dangerous" she glanced nervously then broke out into a sympathetic smile

"I promise I'll be better. Besides," he hopped onto her bed and broke into the Bertie Botts, stuffing a handful into his mouth "it was technically your fault. You're a defiant one"

Ellie scoffed and glared at the shrugging boy

"I just want to leave! I don't need to spend days in here!" she sighed

"Ellie, you were knocked out..." Remus explained as if she didn't know

"I wasn't knocked out!" Ellie whined, Remus was always dramatic, he made it seem much worse than what it was. She shook her head and glanced to Peter, hoping he'd maybe help her win this

"You collapsed on the stairs" Peter muttered

"Peter, must you do this to me?" Ellie moaned, she poked her tongue out at him and grabbed at the sweets Sirius had in his lap. He growled softly as she tugged at the chocolate frog, but smiled at her, handing over the only frog left. They all laughed as Ellie patted Sirius' leg condescendingly; smirking over the fact she managed to snag the delicious chocolate

"So, what happened after I, after-"

"After you fainted?" James cried with a tinge of glee in his voice

"I didn't-" Ellie began to argue, but once again, realised she wouldn't win against the boys

James rolled his eyes and began fiddling with the vase by her bed, "you were carried to the hospital wing" he nodded to Sirius "and Remus here, calmed Slughorn down, God forbid Elladora Aldern dies in his class!" he laughed and glanced between Ellie and Sirius excitedly for some reason. Ellie didn't really understand why he was so happy, but smiled to Sirius thankfully. He shrugged and shoved an entire pumpkin pasty into his mouth. Gross.

"My hero!" Ellie placed her hands on her chest and fell back into her pillows, she decided that mocking the whole situation would be better than being seen as damsel in distress. She tried to ignore the, to be honest, kind of weird idea of Sirius taking her to the hospital wing, tried to ignore his annoying secrecy and the looming prospect that she will probably fail potions this year, especially with Black as a partner.

**A/N: Okay, I know this sucks…I really don't know what's up with me lately – I have nothing great to write…I don't know, maybe I'm subconsciously losing interest in this story, idk…but I have the plot kinda planned so I'll probably continue writing it…I have like a random chapter written about a day in their 7****th**** year…wtf? And i'm sure the book will have significance later...if not then...meh. Anyway…sorry I didn't update sooner – laziness and school and terrible excuses *shrugs* p.s. sorry if there's mistakes, it's late and i'm tired, but I wanted to update :')**

**Enjoy :/ ~ K x **


	27. Bitches, books and birthdays

_**Spottedmask12**__ and __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ thank you for reviewing, means a lot! :) And yeah, I made quite a few silly mistakes, sorry if it was a distraction :/ And thank you __**13Dobby12345**__ for reading, means a lot that you read it all in one go, hehe, hope you continue to read :D Big thanks again :')_

** Bitches, books and birthdays**

An agitated huff filled the silence, "I may or may not have told Remus to go fall of the astronomy tower." Dorcas whispered as she slithered beside Ellie in the library

"What?" Ellie whispered aggressively. It was kind of difficult to portray anger in the library, especially when madam Pince was on the war path. Ellie had been studying before Dorcas decided to ruin her revision timetable. Studying sucked but so did failing potions and transfiguration. Ellie sighed and shook her head; she looked back to Dorcas and glared.

"Don't look at me like that Ellie! He's been lying to me!" Dorcas tugged at Ellie's book and aimlessly flicked through, she huffed again then threw it back to the table

"Will you stop doing- look, Dorcas, I'm sure he had a valid reason-"

"Ellie!"

"Dory! We all know that I'm not particularly skilled when it comes to boys, okay? I don't know why he lied, but this is Remus we're talking about!" Ellie pulled all her books together. She was sure Remus didn't mean to lie or hurt Dorcas, Ellie didn't even know what was going on. She was pretty clueless lately. Being friends with the marauders, trying keep on top of work _and_ have a social life was very draining – she didn't know whether Remus and Dorcas were fighting, heck she didn't even notice when he went home anymore. She very neatly piled her books together, straightening the edges with concentration.

"Remus does that" Dorcas whined pathetically, "Oh, oh I really should apologise, shouldn't I?"

"Well yeah, Dory, you did tell him to go die!" Ellie glanced at her friend; Dorcas never normally was one for violence or angst.

"He said he was going home to care for his ill mother, so why did he come back looking ill himself, with a black eye, pale and…"

"I don't know Dory." Ellie sighed; the small blonde girl had risen from her seat and paced lightly twisting her hands together nervously. She continued arguing with herself – should she apologise, shouldn't she? Ellie just glanced around bored, her stomach growling angrily.

"Shh" she whispered towards her tummy blissfully unaware of the approaching girl

"Why are you talking to you stomach?" a voice screeched. Ellie recoiled at the sound and looked up annoyed at Katherine Lloyd.

"I wasn't." she replied shortly, the girl dropped opposite her, threw her bag onto the table and sighed dramatically. Her blonde hair was scrapped into an unflattering bun on the top of her head, accentuating her nasty scowl. Dorcas stopped being a mental case and sat back down beside Ellie suspiciously but still smiled sweetly.

"Hey, Katherine" her voice was soft and welcoming. Why was she nice to everyone?

Katherine merely nodded at the Hufflepuff then threw her unwelcome attention back to Ellie "What's up with you and Black?"

"I'm sorry" Ellie asked innocently smirking slightly

"Are you dating?" she growled

"Nah, just mates. Why? Jealous are we? I thought you got over Black in 4th year?"

"I am over Black. I was just curious!"

"Oh really?" Ellie mused

"Ell" Dorcas whispered warningly

"Ellie, I really couldn't care less if Black wants to waste his time on _you_! I've come to tell you something."

"Really? Well? What do you want Katherine?"

The bleached blonde scowled at the two girls then proceeded to speak in her nasally, grating voice "Normally, I wouldn't care, but Dylan told me to talk to you. I asked him to Hogsmeade and he said yeah…but only if I tell you, don't know why." she explained looking to Ellie, she then looked at her nails talking lazily "and I was like, fine whatever. So here I am now, telling you that Dylan and I are going on a date, I don't really care if you're upset by it, to be honest. He's fit and quite frankly-"

"Okay."

"Okay? Last month you were so in love with this boy and now what, 4 weeks later you're-"

"Not in love. Exactly. And whatever, I don't care if you two want to date, or whatever. I don't." Ellie responded amicably. She stood abruptly, Dorcas and Katherine mirrored her move. Ellie scooped her books off the table and into her bag, nervously grabbing at her quills. She stopped and stared at Katherine. The blonde's lips curled into a sneaky smile, obviously happy about grabbing Dylan Baker.

"Aw, well that's great Ell!" she smiled. She patted the brunette's arm, threw her a sarcastic smile and sauntered off…

* * *

"What the hell was that…?" Dorcas whispered in her ear.

"Katherine being her usual slutty goodness." Ellie bit back venomously

Dorcas threw her hand to her mouth and suppressed a snort. She weaved her arm around Ellie's and pulled her from the library. Ellie slouched and dragged herself after Dorcas. Was she angry? Upset? She didn't know. part of her was still pissed about Dylan. He said he didn't want to date or have a girlfriend. Is Ellie just that awful that no ones likes her, no one wants to be with her? She figured it was at least pretty decent to tell Ellie before she saw them in Hogsmeade herself. But still, Katherine Lloyd!? She thought Dylan had standards; she thought he'd go for someone smart and more decent than a bitch that had made Ellie's life unbearable. The short brunette figured it was because Katherine was everything she wasn't: Tall, blonde, drop dead gorgeous, incredibly out going and last of all – easy.

"You okay?" Dorcas asked casually as they strolled along the castle corridor. Was she? She couldn't help feel emotional and…just a teeny bit heartbroken. Ellie shook from her whinging and smiled at her friend. The smile was fake and ached on her face. She relaxed her scary grin and nodded

"Of course, Dor– oof!" Ellie collided with a jittery mess of a boy, and only realised at closer look that it was – "Peter!" Ellie clambered over him and growled "What is wrong with you?" he looked pale and alarmed and she was suddenly quite worried for him

"Nothing! Nothing! Everything is fine! Lunch, shall we? Great hall? James is there." Peter rambled nervously.

"What is wrong with you…you look-"

"Nothing, really" he smiled and gestured for them to continue walking ahead.

The girls looked at each other confused but shook it off…Peter was always being odd.

"So what actually happened between you two, Ell?" Dorcas asked as they resumed to walk the castle

"He just said he didn't want to have a girlfriend. I don't know. Don't worry Dorcas, I don't care"

Dorcas glanced at her sceptically "Ellie,"

"I don't! He can shag Katherine as much as he wants. Really, I'm over him. Anyway, it's not like we really dated. It was a random snog every now and then and a crap Christmas present. That's all." Ellie stopped and turned to Dorcas defiantly "Really!"

"Oh." She looked thoughtful but then broke into a huge grin "yeah, well now you have Marauders back, all is well."

"That it is, Dorcas" she smiled weakly, but didn't fancy dropping the subject "I hate her"

"Wha-what? Who?" Dorcas looked bewildered

"Katherine! Seriously, do you ever pay attention- is that…is that Sirius?" Ellie stopped at the corner and concentrated on a figure sitting on the step – so engrossed in a large book, they didn't even bother to glance up.

"Sirius? Where?" Peter asked excitedly

Ellie pointed. She edged a bit closer and threw a hand over her mouth to stop herself letting out the loudest laugh ever. It_ was_ Sirius Black. His eyes darted along each line and his eyebrows raised every now and then in excitement or shock. Dorcas giggled quietly beside her

"Since when does Sirius read?"

"I didn't know he could" Ellie mused, Peter huffed beside her obviously annoyed at his friend being insulted, but didn't have the guts to say anything.

Ellie turned and walked the other way, followed by Peter and Dorcas. She decided she wouldn't question Sirius. He needed to keep his bad boy image after all and she figured his rebel personality didn't involve being a secret book worm.

* * *

"I'm going to kill James Potter!" Lily screeched as she flooded into the great hall in the morning on a peaceful sunday

"And I am going to be having very strong words with Remus!" Dorcas moaned as she slipped onto the bench at the Gryffindor table

"Sirius Black will die before this day is over!" Marlene growled as she too flopped down at the table. All 3 girls stared expectantly at the alarmed Ellie, a spoonful of cheerios hovering by her mouth.

"That Peter…Pettigrew…" she mocked anger then laughed "Guys, I don't know what's happening here." Ellie groaned pushing her breakfast away, once again –totally at a lose of the happenings in the lives of Gryffindor 6th years, "why do we hate the Marauders this time?" Ellie looked at the group of girls, their faces angry and annoyed – quite an interesting image really. "But Lily, I must say, I am admiring the confetti in your hair." She grinned

"The green love hearts do bring out your eyes. Happy Birthday, by the way!" Marlene added smiling

"Shut it! James Potter! I am going to kill him, he sent me a howler. A howler and it sang 'Happy Birthday'! And it was mortifying! And horrific! And it couldnt sing properly!" she cried shaking her head trying to rid her red locks of paper shapes

"That's sweet…oh, and I only got you a book." Ellie said, half mocking, half honestly annoyed she didn't think of a singing howler to wish her best friend a great 17th

"No! No it is not Elladora! Don't encourage them!"

"We managed to talk him out of the monster party he was going to throw tonight" Dorcas added solemnly

"Why?! Oh, Lil! I fancy a good Marauder party!" Ellie cried "So Mar, what's up with you and Sirius?" Ellie asked changing the subject before an angry Lily could pounce on her and rip out her curls

"He pushed me out of the portrait hole and I fell onto that bitch Katherine! Look, my elbow is bleeding!" she twisted her body to show the group her bloody arm, they all protested and looked away grossed out

"He does that a lot." Ellie nodded

"And Remus decided he'd have a bitch fit and moan at me, I really don't see why he's so hormonal at the moment. Lily please change the prefect duties tonight, I refuse to patrol with him! Could you also maybe speak to him? I don't why he is-"

"STUDENTS OF HOGWARTS! I HAVE SOME WONDROUS NEWS FOR YOU ALL: LILY EVANS," James Potter stood at the front of the hall, normally where Dumbledore would stand at the beginning of the year, grinning madly. He looked beside him to Sirius and winked. Adding quietly "my future girlfriend" before resuming his louder yell. The hall stopped and stared intrigued. He was a famous marauder after all – girls lined up at his feet, the male students admired and respected his pranks and quidditch skills, they were bound to listen especially close to James Potter.

Ellie glanced opposite to Lily, her face a deep shade of red, darker than she had ever seen, but completely unaware whether it was red from embarrassment or anger

"LILY EVANS IS 17 TODAY! AS WE ALL KNOW, IT IS A HUGE MILESTONE IN ANY YOUNG WITCH OR WIZARDS LIFE, SO I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU ALL TO HELP ME WISH HER AN AMAZING BIRTHDAY!" his eyes flashed brightly

Sirius Black pulled a popper, sending confetti, streamers and glitter into the hall, apparently encouraging students to jump up, clap and cheer.

"ALSO, LILY-FLOWER? PLEASE ACCOMPANY ME TO HOGSMEADE NEXT SATURDAY. A BUTTERBEER AND A SNOG IN THE THREE BROOMSTICKS IS JUST WHAT YOU NEED!" he jumped from the podium and swaggered through the confetti cloud towards the group of dumbstruck girls. Their jaws hanging open at the sheer surprise of the entire morning.

"So Evans, what do you say? A date, that's it - kidding about the quick snog of course, well unless you _want _to!" James smirked

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU, POTTER!" Lily screamed, leaping up from her seat and towards the messy haired boy. The smile slipping from his handsome face as the red head swooped at him.

**A/N: Well, that was eventful. Thanks for the kind reviews. Hope you liked this chapter. Please tell me is there's mistakes :') and sorry for the quick jumps ect.** **I feel I need more Jily, less Dylan, more Sirius, more cute lovey Remus and Dorcas, less silly plots, more fights and more fluff! But one can only fit a certain amount into a chapter :P I'll update soon. But it will probably be a big gap of setting, if this one was the 30****th**** January, the next will probably be half way through February, idk. Thanks for reading!**


	28. The aftermath

_Thank you to __**spottedmask12,**__ every time I see your reviews they make me smile! __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ ahh thank you, I enjoyed writing it, and I'm going to try and add more James and Lily – they're great. Oh and the next chapter will have a lot more Sirius, I'm really enjoying writing chapter 29 :) And__** ellinise**__ thank you so much for reading my story and enjoying it, means a lot! :D_

**The aftermath**

No one could deny it: being in McGonagall's office for something other than help, advice or praise was scary as hell. Ellie sat apprehensively in the large room awaiting the presence of her head of year and she could already sense her harsh nature.

On her left, Marlene sat smirking and proud of herself. On her right Lily sat crossing her arms, scowling and refusing to even utter a single syllable. The girls weren't alone of course. The boys with them seemed to take it all in their stride; they seemed relaxed and almost…happy?

Sirius sat on the professor's desk opposite Ellie grinning like mad whilst James stood moodily by the window scowling dangerously but smirking at his best friend every so often. Ellie tore her eyes from Sirius and muttered towards Lily,

"I mean, Marlene sure, but you Lil? Marlene always gets me in trouble… " Ellie stopped, how could she phrase this? "You need to control you anger" she hissed

"Chill Ell, it was an enjoyable moment in all our lives!" Marlene laughed

"We're going to get detention…I need all my spare time to study and-"

"I don't get detentions!" Lily screeched. She leapt from her seat and sped towards the messy haired boy in the corner, "I hope you're happy, Potter! Detention! I'm a prefect and I, I," she waggled her finger in his face threateningly

"Calm it Evans, I think Prongs here is more wounded than you!" Sirius drawled, he continued smirking at Ellie, which she found slightly uncomfortable, being under his scrutiny made her nervous.

"Why do you humiliate me like this?" Lily's face flushed red and James just grinned

"I was only wishing you a happy birthday, Lily."

"Well, I…well" Lily stuttered clumsily, the colour of her face deepened and she spun round and marched back to her seat, "well, thank you, James, but I really didn't appreciate the Hogsmeade proposal. In front of the entire school, really?" she muttered.

Ellie glanced at Marlene and smirked, James and Lily's fights were feeble and had no real structure, but they were bloody fun to watch. And since when did Lily Evans ever call James…James?

"Can we all just-" Sirius started but stopped abruptly. The door swung open revealing a red faced professor; she waltzed over to Sirius and swatted him away off of her desk. He begrudgingly hopped off and walked round to stand behind the girls, followed by James.

"I have absolutely no idea why you five students acted like bumbling baboons in front of the entire school. But all I can tell you is, I will not accept your indecent behaviour! I am surprised, ashamed and angered by the very bad name you gave your house. Fighting?! And fighting with your own house mates. I am shocked! And Miss Evans, I expected better of you" she glared at Lily, her harsh words sending a painful awkwardness into the air.

Ellie felt hands grip her upper arms, fingers travelling up and stopping to lightly drum on her shoulders; she craned her neck back to see Sirius grinning down at her and she couldn't help grin back, his carefree attitude made her giggle.

"Miss Aldern? Something you want to share?" the Scottish woman bit sharply

"No professor."

"Mr Black? Why, I must ask, was Miss McKinnon hanging from your back earlier when I found you? Like gorillas!"

Sirius dropped his hands from Ellie's shoulders "You see, professor, Marlene here attacked me and I-"

"I attacked you because you pushed me-"

"Really McKinnon, really?" Sirius mused

"Yes really! I-"

"Enough!" McGonagall slammed her hand on the table startling the squabbling students. She glared dangerously then set her beady eyes on Lily "What on earth had gotten into you? You of all people, you are a prefect, and to see you attacking another student!"

"He started it!" Lily whined but then recoiled under her petty statement, "I just meant, he…I'm sorry professor." She dropped her head, red locks falling into her watering eyes

"You are 6th years. The younger students look to you! And Miss Aldern, why on earth were you in the horrific scene?"

"Oh, I can explain, Minnie. This had nothing to do with Ellie-"

"Quiet Black!" McGonagall barked. Only Sirius Black could get away with being totally rude and disrespectful to professor McGonagall. If anyone else attempted to call her anything other than Professor, she would have killed them. But there was always that certain charm with Sirius Black.

Ellie bowed her head, not only to hide the smile creeping onto her face but the blush she felt as Sirius tried to defend her.

"I had to stop Lily killing James. She's a fierce one!" Ellie defended

McGonagall sighed then turned her attention to the boys "Mr Potter, stop harassing Miss Evans. You boys will clear the great hall of glitter and confetti, WITHOUT magic." James and Sirius groaned in unison: both purebloods, both completely clueless when not able to use magic. "Quiet! Miss Evans, Miss McKinnon, I will not allow assault or aggression. Miss Aldern, whatever you were doing, I do not appreciate your inability to stop your friends, I realise they are not you responsibility, but I would have thought, of all people, you would be able to talk sense into them." Ellie nodded solemnly.

Thinking back to the morning was rather mind boggling:

Lily literally leaping onto James screaming about how he refuses to respect her wishes.

Marlene attacking Sirius whilst he attempted to shield James from Lily's feeble scrabble.

Ellie trying to pry the red head from James.

And their friends, mainly Remus and Dorcas tutting and scolding.

The entire school watching, laughing and enjoying every moment and the teachers rushing over to break up the disagreement. All in all, it was an interesting day. At least Lily would never forget her 17th birthday.

But even so, McGonagall was right, Ellie could've have stopped it, she could've calmed Lily and at least try to stop the boys from going through with the 'operation: surprise Lily.'

"Mr Potter and Miss McKinnon, detention tomorrow night with Mr Filch. Miss Evans and Mr Black, detention tomorrow night with me. No ifs or buts. It is Sunday and I do not wish to come and quell your squabbles. Act your age. You may leave." She waved her hand dismissingly and looked down to her papers "except you Miss Aldern."

"I'll meet you in the common room" Ellie whispered to Marlene as the blonde stood apprehensively. The door closed lightly and the teacher sighed.

* * *

"I do not wish to give you a detention Ellie, but it's been brought to my attention that you are _failing_ multiple classes. I don't understand."

Ellie looked up shyly then grimaced.

"I'm sorry." She whispered nervously

"Ellie, you're a smart able girl, you usually get fantastic grades. 8 outstanding OWLS! Why are you slipping now? I must insist you either put in extra homework and revision, or require help from a tutor." Ellie inwardly groaned

"Oh no, no, no need for a tutor professor. I can put in the extra work, I promise. Really!" she persisted; she quickly stood from her seat and hovered by the desk. She didn't want some random student teaching her stuff. She already had enough pressures. Teacher didn't get that though: students drowning under too much work and demands of perfection. She stared at the teacher with eagerness to leave.

"Very well, you may leave," Ellie scarpered to the door "Miss Aldern, try not let James and Lily kill each other!" she smiled gently at the 6th year who returned the warm knowing smile. She pattered from the office, walking straight into Sirius.

* * *

"What did she want? You're not in trouble are you? You didn't do anything." He spoke amicably and strolled alongside Ellie and she wandered down the hall.

"I'm fine. But I must compliment you on the confetti bomb" she grinned menacingly

"I was going to fill it with dungbombs but Prongs was completely against the idea" he scoffed and shook his head

Ellie snickered and pulled at her jumper and sighed

"So you're not in trouble? Then what did she want?"

"No, I didn't get in trouble. She didn't want much. I'm just failing in life is all." She shrugged and walked away quietly.

**A/N: this was more a filler chapter, pretty much no real plot. A tad more James and Lily, not much however. But I'm quite excited for the next chapter, much more Sirius and Ellie and it's called 'heart to heart' so that kind of gives you an idea of what it's going to be about ^-^ :3 I'll update soon :) Thank you for reading, it means a lot that people actually take time to read it Oh and if there are any mistakes/or it doesn't make sense...please tell me and sorry :D ~ K**


	29. Heart to heart

_**happypanda19**__ thank you for reviewing, I'm glad you liked it and I hope this chapter has enough Sirius and Ellie, if not, complain and I'll be sure to add much more ehehe ;) Thank you __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ glad you liked it :) Thanks to those that favourite and followed too! :D_

**The heart to heart**

"Is life still a slut?" Sirius asked as Ellie stumbled into the room, she grimaced and stomped over to the table full of rags and polish. She grabbed a handful of old cloth and stormed over to the filthy cages. "Don't ignore me Elladora! Cheer up, it's not that bad." Sirius slithered over to Ellie and grinned down at her

"Don't look at me like that!" Ellie spat, she was here because of Sirius. It was his fault, again.

"Hey, you have detention, with _me_, on valentines day. Elladora, this will be the best date of your life" Sirius drawled as he edged away from her disappointed.

"Sirius, you got me another detention! Another one!" Ellie moaned as she pulled the tiny animals from the cage and placed them in the bucket. She threw the cage at Sirius – it was foul smelling and disgusting, he could clean it. "And besides, this isn't how I wanted to spend my day, cleaning up crap!"

"It is a pretty sucky date" he stated as he unenthusiastically cleaned the cage

"This isn't a date"

"Oh Ellie, must you break my heart!" he winked, he pulled the rubber gloves off and sat on the floor

"Hey get up, we need to finish these" she gestured to the room of animals and cages and inwardly cried. There were so many.

"Ellie, chill, sit down and give me a snog." He patted the floor beside him

"Sirius, how many time must I tell you, I'd rather kiss-"

"…the giant squid than kiss me, yes, yes, I know, it's like your catchphrase" he laughed and she, in turn, smiled triumphantly. She kicked the cages to the side and sat down beside him.

He flung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her towards him

"Admit it, that prank was beyond brilliance" Sirius laughed

"No, no, I refuse to divulge in your stupidity. I was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time" She cried

"Well, it would've been amazing if we didn't get caught"

"We?!" she protested glaring at him. His shaggy hair fell into his grey eyes as he chuckled roughly; he pulled her closer and squeezed her briefly

"I thought you don't hug" she drawled

"It's not really a hug, but, I don't know Elladora, if you want a hug…" he chuckled wrapping his other arm around her also

"Yeah, yeah, get off now!" she snarled struggling from his embrace

He let out his hearty laugh and pulled out a pumpkin pasty, broke it in half and handed her some

"Why do you always have food? And why is it _always_ pumpkin pasties?"

"Hey, I'm a growing boy! And besides, they're delicious. I'm also thinking of avoiding dinner tonight. I don't fancy eating pink food." He grimaced, she thought back to last years February 14th, the mashed potato was dyed an unattractive cherry colour.

"Valentines sucks" she sighed before biting into her food

"I disagree, it doesn't suck when you have someone, and it only sucks when your company is Peter moaning and James crying over Lily. That, Elladora, is when it sucks." They sat in silence for a while, chewing quietly on their food. Ellie glanced around the room frowning at the detention punishment. Really, she didn't do anything! Professor Rayners was just sadistic and hated Gryffindors. Ellie had literally emerged from the library when he pounced; he assumed she was an accomplice to a puffed out, red faced Sirius, which of course she wasn't. She was busy pouring her soul into transfiguration.

"How's the studying?" Sirius asked uninterested. Was he reading her mind?

"Depressing and painful, but what you going to do?" she shrugged

"I could always try out this spell I found, it helps people concentrate and-"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Like I'd trust you to put any sort of spell on me!"

"Oh but I already have Elladora, my charm makes your knees weak, admit it!" he roared proudly

"Not really. I'm only here for the food. You always seem to be busting out the pasties."

"Ah yes, I forget, the way to Elladora Aldern's heart is through her stomach." Sirius joked prodding Ellie's stomach. She batted away his hand laughing. She liked this, she felt she talk to him about anything, so she decided to do it. Take a leap of faith and ask him something which she had pondered on for months, something rather personal and something she knew he wouldn't answer.

"Sirius, you know how we're friends" she started cautiously

"Oh Elladora, I see us more than that, I see us as two beautiful dark haired beauties who will inevitably-"

"Shut up Sirius!" she laughed "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure!" he smiled welcomingly

"What…what happened over summer…?"

He puffed out air from his cheeks and brought his hand to his hair his running his fingers through the long locks. Clearing his throat tensely then sighing. It's quite odd how someone's emotions can change in a split second.

"Not much really, I ran away." He shrugged

"SO _not_ what I meant."

"I know what you meant," he growled softly "but nothing…really happened."

"Sirius, at the Potter's, your…your face." She whispered, the image of what seemed like a pretty broken Sirius flooded into her mind and she shuddered beside him

He patted her leg gently and smiled, "nothing, Ellie, really."

"Well that's obviously a lie, Sirius!" her voice shot out bitter "I was there. At the beginning anyway."

He sighed again, it wasn't angry or annoyed, it just sounded defeated

"Ellie, really, please. It's nothing to dwell on. I've told you before, the Blacks aren't very nice people. Trying to understand them is like trying to understand ancient runes when drunk – near impossible"

"You're difficult to understand" she stated wearily. She shyly looked at him and was surprised to see him smiling. And it was true. He was. He was mysterious and moody and moaning and groaning constantly. He grinned then scowled, he laughed then shouted. Sirius was odd.

"Your father is a ghastly bully. He hit you and, and-" she couldn't finish, she didn't know what to say

"I got over it. It's fine, Elladora, really. Don't look so frightened, all is well" he smiled weakly before letting the fake emotion melt from his face

"You didn't deserve that"

"Well what can I say Elladora, I'm a pretty damaged person…but we all have baggage, we all have skeletons. It's fine really." He fiddled with his belt buckle. She didn't know how to reply, he was right after all. We all were damaged, but she didn't really know anyone who was nearly as damaged as Sirius Black. She linked her arm with his and shuffled closer, she laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. It was comforting. For both of them.

* * *

"Now can I tell you something?"

"If you must" she dramatically sighed

Ellie raised her head allowing Sirius to shuffle his bum to his bag and pull out a large book, it was wrapped in thick velvet and Ellie involuntarily laughed "Ah, the book" he shuffled back and sat snugly next to her

"Yup! The book, just listen okay?"

"Sure" she shrugged

"Page 457, Marius Aldern, born…" he calmly spoke, Ellie tensed beside him; she laughed slightly shocked then stared at him

"What?"

"Listen."

She swiped at the book but he leant away "What are you doing?" her voice was uneasy, she didn't like this.

"Helping, so Marius…"

"Stop." She snapped, her eyes darting from his face to the dusty book, he looked at her blankly

"Elladora, you can't keep running from your past! It's obviously playing on your mind all the time. That's why your grades are slipping, you're concentrating on your family past and I want to help!" he looked back to the book and turned the page, he ran his finger across the smooth page as if looking for something he knew was there.

"I am not upset!" she argued

"Oh okay then!" he scoffed, this only infuriated her even more

"I don't need to know about them. Jesus Christ." she muttered beside him

He ignored her and continued searching for a line

"I know it's here someone, aha! Marius Aldern born September 3rd 1934 in Kent, he-" Ellie ignored his statement and silently clambered up, she scuttled towards the door and fumbled with the handle for a good minute before Sirius exclaimed

"I don't need this right now, I'm tired and I have revision and" she didn't finished, it suddenly dawned on her – she turned fast and fled towards Sirius, looming over him dangerously she waggled her finger at him "hey! So that's why you were being all secretive, hiding the book, refusing to let me see it, you were going behind my back-"

"Behind you back? I wouldn't go that far." He closed the book gently, placed it to his side carefully and climbed up standing face to face with Ellie

"I don't want to know about them" …just yet anyway

"You said you did"

"I said maybe. Maybe I might research them. Maybe I'm a little curious. But like this? No" she waved her arms around, as if the movement would help her convey her message

"Stop being babyish" he grinned

She scowled "I'm not."

"Ellie" he put his hands on her shoulder and shook her gently

"No. I have my family"

He dropped his hands and raised them to the back of his head, he growled and staggered away from the girl "See, this is where you are contradicting yourself!" he wasn't mean or rude, just exasperated "You say you don't need the Alderns, that you have your parents. But then I find you in the library getting flustered over your past and then at the Christmas party. You find out vital names and you don't even act upon them? Mental!" he shook his head and ruffled his hand through his hair yet again.

He was right of course; she had been contradicting herself ever since she found out about the Alderns. But she couldn't help it, it was a scary idea! She glared at him mockingly, hoping this wouldn't turn into a full blown argument like it had done so many times beforehand. She shrugged and smiled weakly at him

"Let's just forget about it, so, erm, tell me about this prank"

"No! You need to make up your mind!" he shot back

"Yeah, you're right. So how about you don't try and make it up for me, okay?" she shouted "forget about the Alderns, okay. Just forget."

"I don't see how that's possible, seeing as I know nearly everything about them! I've read books upon-"

"I never asked you to do that!"

"Okay so now you're freaking out over nothing?" he asked bewildered.

Fed up of the whole confrontation, Ellie darted to the door, yanked open it and fled into the hall way. She stormed to nowhere in particular and sulked on the way. No way was she going to get upset about nothing in front of Sirius Black.

"Ellie! Come on! Ell!" Sirius' called from the room. Ellie sped up and without turning back, yelled:

"You're an arsehole and you infuriate me every time. I hope the giant squid eats your face!" without stopping she turned the corner and skulked off away from the unmistakable rough chuckle of Sirius.

**A/N: Okay so the ending isn't as cool/sweet/funny/whatever as I wanted it to be but oh well :) I enjoyed writing this, I needed a sweet Ellie and Sirius conversation which would obviously lead to an argument :'). I haven't started the next chapter yet as I have exams…*cries self to sleep* but I hope to update as soon as possible. Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think of the chapter! ^-^**


	30. Pranks and plans

_Hey! Wow I haven't updated in so long! Exams finished then my laptop broke! :( and it won't be fixed for ages. I am currently in my local library crying over the crap computers…anyway… __**Happypanda19**__, thanks for reviewing, and I hope your exams went well! :) __**Spottemask12,**__ thank you for the review…yup, Ellie's being annoying and stubborn *tut* __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ thanks for the review, always appreciated! I'll read your new chapter soon, I promise :D __**Nosebitingteacup**__! Ahh no worries, I thought you may have just got bored with this (meh, it happens) but yay thanks for the review, good to hear from you again, and yes…you need to update! I love your story and I miss it :P and don't worry…you're crazy / and I love your rants…they're hilarious. Thanks for reading :D_

**Pranks and plans**

"Hey wait!" Ellie called, she emerged from the great hall and saw him climb the stone steps, and he turned and smirked upon seeing the girl.

Sirius jumped back down the last two steps and grinned "Elladora,"

"Sirius!" she smiled broadly "Could you maybe forgive this wondrous girl for being a bitch, accept this love heart chocolate and accompany her to go hex some slytherins?"

"Left over valentine chocolate. Classy."

"I'm sorry." Ellie looked up through her hair and smiled innocently, Sirius rolled his eyes and snatched the chocolate away

"Calmed down have we?" He smirked shoving chocolate in his gob

"Yes." She nodded solemnly

"So a prank? You only just got out of detention Elladora."

"Well I'm thinking maybe we won't get caught" she grinned hopefully

"Ah well I am bored! But I have something much better to do!"

"Like?"

"Talking, planning, laughing. What do you say?"

She sighed in response, she really only wanted to hex Macnair for being awful, she didn't want to discuss stuff. It would only lead to problems.

"If you want someone to talk to about a recent shag, I'm afraid I'm not the correct person. Go find James." she scrunched her eyebrows together and walked past him

"No, no, no not that" he laughed pulling at her arm "we need to find Remus and Peter"

"But…but, what about a prank?" she sulked mockingly

"Another time, come on!" he held out his arm, Ellie stared at it suspiciously but snatched it and let Sirius drag her away.

"I'll help you get payback another time" he smiled down at Ellie

"Great! Macnair needs to be brought down to earth!"

"Macnair? I was thinking Baker."

Ellie let out an unattractive snort and stared up at him incredulously "Baker?! Why?"

"Because he's a dick" he looked at her confused

"Oh no, no, no!" she shook her head giggling "Those Slytherins need this new hex I found, it's rather amazing" they started climbing steps, Sirius looking at the girl intrigued.

"A new hex? Do share!" he grinned "I see my mischievous ways are rubbing off on you"

She grinned back menacingly "that they are Mr Black"

* * *

"Boys? What is all of this?" Ellie stepped into the 6th year boys dormitory, it was always a pig sty so the mess didn't surprise her greatly. What did surprise her however was Remus and Peter huddled around a small desk. They looked up nervously.

"Oh, hi, Ell" Remus smiled, he pushed the papers away "well, I'm stumped!"

Sirius closed the door, threw a smirk at Ellie and clapped a hand on Remus' back, "Remus! You're the smart one! If you can't figure this out, who can?"

Peter looked up hopefully, "What about Ellie?"

She sighed and shook her head but let a small smile escape from her lips, what on earth were they up so now? She tried to ignore the large velvet covered, recently discovered book sitting on Sirius trunk, as she sat down next to Remus, but her smile faltered just a little.

* * *

"It's Prongs' birthday soon…17!" Peter cried

"Ah, yes. A Marauder party, bound to be incredible" Ellie nodded as she peeked at the papers before Remus

"Yeah but only trouble is where do we put the toads?" Sirius moaned as he flopped onto his bed lazily

"Toads?!"

"Toads." He replied

"What?"

"Toads, you know, like frogs." Peter explained

"I know what toads are!" she growled, the plump boy cowered away and sniffed, "question is: why have you got toads for James' party?"

"oh…erm, well" Remus rubbed the back of his neck, confused, as if he didn't expect anyone to ask about the random toads

Ellie pointed to a blueprint of the common room, "If you're having trouble with the settlement of the frogs-"

"Toads" Sirius hissed

"…the settlement of the TOADS!" she glared to Sirius then looked back to the map, "then, I don't know, just fill the balloons with them, then pop them on the girls." She shrugged not caring for their silly plan

Sirius sat up, Peter grinned and Remus barked out laughter

"Wow Elladora, evil yet hilarious, I like it!" Sirius climbed up and stood behind her, he draped his arms over her shoulders and pulled the map towards them.

"Yeah, I can see it, those 2 there! They can go in the centre of the room, this is perfect."

"Remind me why I'm friends with a boy who thinks exploding frog balloons are perfect for a birthday party" Remus chuckled as he checked off something from his list.

"Elladora's Idea! Trust me, she's a crazy cat."

"Shut it, I gave you chocolate!" Ellie moaned

"Okay, so balloons sorted,10 crates of butterbeer, and 12 crates of firewhiskey! Fantastic!"

"You do realise, the majority of people going won't be able to drink" Ellie pointed out, receiving a sceptical look from Remus and Peter. She shrugged back.

She felt warm air tickle her as Sirius bent down to whisper in her ear "We're all such amazing party planners…see, I told you this would be better than getting a detention."

"I still don't see why you need a month to prepare for this party." She replied

"Trust me Elladora, this party will be the best. If people die after the party, they'd be glad they went to such a-

"…Bit dramatic…"

"…Trust me! Try to save me a dance, yeah?"

Ellie snorted but then nodded "Of course"

"I'm a brilliant dancer" he winked

"You are such a loser" she laughed standing up and pushing him out of the way, he fell ungracefully and with an unflattering grunt. She cackled and then swooped out of the door before he could recover his tumble and rugby tackle her to the floor.

**A/N: Quite short, probably a fair few mistakes – my apologies, I think i'm going a tad mad. I'm trying to read all my favourite fanfics and update and everything else in a hour at a time (my local library only allows an hour use….GRR!) So thanks for everyone who reviewed, followed/ favourited …means a lot. This chapter took quite long to think of, I have the next chapter nearly finished though, (seeing as I did write it like a month ago :/ aha) annnnnyway, I'll try and update soon, sorry if I don't :) ~ K**


	31. Stupid drunken nights

_**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ and __**Spottedmask12**__ thank you for the reviews :D and obviously, I cannot divulge this information ;) really enjoying your stories too! __**NoseBitingTeacup**__…no worries, I love any kind of review, thank you :) and yeeeaah I think you might be a lil disappointed about the party…I'm not great at description and idk, I guess it's more Ellie and Sirius…oops :/ Oh well…THANK YOU everyone that fav/followed :D_

**Stupid drunken nights**

Ellie had been drunk before. What 6th year Gryffindor hadn't? It was 2 days before James Potter's birthday and his noble friends threw one hell of a party. She had been more contented over the last 3 months, so when the Marauders decided to celebrate, she was more than happy to join in. Cheers and squeals were emitted all around the room. Firewhiskey was being consumed like water and a few escaped toads hopped haphazardly around the common room. Ellie had been watching the fun and commotion unravel around her all night. A goofy drunken grin plastered on her face.

Red and gold streamers strewn chaotically around the room suggesting a quidditch match victory instead of a 17th birthday party, with glitter gleaming, the room alight with flashes and bright colours. Music thumped dangerously. The fast tempo matching that of Ellie's heart beat – she couldn't be sure if it was the alcohol doing this or the pure adrenaline that was emitted being at a great party like this.

She grinned happily taking in the events silently earlier in the night, watching Peter Pettigrew be blamed for groping Katherine Lloyd:

"HOW DARE YOU! PETTIGREW! YOU ARE DEAD! You slime ball! You beast!"

"I didn't, I, no. NO-no-no, n-n-no!" he had stuttered clumsily tripping over giggling 7th years whilst his three friends cackled evilly enjoying the events.

"You touch my arse, ever AGAIN! I will kill you, Pettigrew, get back here! NOW!" Peter darted to the portrait hole red faced and stumbling followed by the tall, gorgeous blonde. Ellie couldn't help feel sorry for him, but also couldn't help admiring the simplicity of the prank against the less fortunate Marauder.

She had listened to giggling girls gossiping about good looking boys and her drunken best friends acting like utter morons:

"Oh my God! James snogged a Ravenclaw and Lily is super pissed!" Marlene screeched amongst a group of chitchatting girls

"I can't believe she brought Dylan Baker though! He is beyond adorable!"

"No way! Sirius Black"

"Really, Luce? Please don't make me vomit"

"No way Mar, you can't deny he is attractive. His hair!"

"Agreed! His hair. And body!"

"James is something too! He has a better body than Sirius." Screeches, squeals, giggling and what could only be described as dying hippogriff sounds floated through the air, Ellie only rolled her eyes and laughed blissfully before sauntering off.

* * *

"Ellie!" James cried, catching her before she could scurry off to hide from the thumping party. She liked the party. She just needed to rest. Exploding frogs and a singing chocolate cake can really tire a girl out. He stormed to her and pulled her into a tight embrace. "You!" he smelt of alcohol, smoke and sweat, "are beautiful!" he whispered into her face after dropping her back down after his surprise hug.

"James! You're pissed!"

"So are you!" he grabbed her arms and began swirling her around, she spun back into his arms where he clasped her waist and began dancing with her - quite terribly too.

She giggled as their rendition of the fox trot turned into a sloppy yet dramatic waltz

"I think I'm getting over Lily!" he casually interjected between the chuckles and taunts they were throwing at each other

"Since when?" she laughed incredulously, she could feel the intoxication of alcohol getting stronger

"Since I found out Nancy Garner is an amazing kisser!" he shrugged

"You're an idiot" she slurred clumsily, shaking her head disapprovingly

"Obviously!" he shouted before departing to chug down the hundredth Firewhiskey. Leaving her to grab a huge slab of cake, butterbeer and a bottle of Firewhiskey. She juggled the objects before collapsing behind the sofas hidden away.

* * *

She was sitting cross legged on the floor hidden away behind the sofas. She was tired and ached from cheering so much. Her drink was slopping down her front as she nodded in and out of consciousness. The music was dying away, as were the students retreating away, only the odd couple sleeping on the floor or snogging on the steps.

The curly haired girl smiled to herself and sighed happily, she took a swig of Firewhiskey and turned to smile at the boy next to her. Sirius Black. He wasn't drinking for some strange reason, he had a couple early in the evening but when Ellie offered him some of her drink he declined. He crawled over to her earlier taunting her for being a 'lightweight' and stealing her food. The git.

"You're proper drunk Ellie!" he noted. Ellie just smiled and turned back to staring ahead at the wall, she started bobbing her head to the now non existent music. Sirius chuckled quietly beside her.

She had overheard him earlier in the night talking to his friends – he was surprised at drunken Ellie. Ellie pondered on this and was slightly confused as to what it meant; she couldn't tell he had said that in a derogative manner. She thought to Lily - she was a scary drunk that shouted and laughed a lot and to Marlene who was a shameful flirty drunk - she liked to snog everyone. Girls included. Drunken Ellie couldn't be that bad…could she?

* * *

Ellie startled, the dream in which she was falling had woken her. Sirius stirred, she realised she was lying in his lap still perched away in the corner of the common room. The lights were out and no sound was coming from their surroundings

"Ellie? Are you awake now? Oi…" He prodded her arm "Can you walk?" her eyes blinked open cautiously as she glanced up into his stormy eyes.

After hoisting her up, Ellie grabbed Sirius' arms a giggled manically before stumbling stupidly. "Lets go find Peeves!" her eyes widening at the idea of a possible adventure. She was fully aware she must have stunk like booze and looked like a tart, but she didn't overly care as much as she would if she were sober.

"Nope!" Sirius pulled her up right and effortlessly slung her over his shoulder as if she were a broom. She grunted quietly as her gut collided with his body, winding her.

"Sorry" he whispered

"Are you taking me to your room Mr Black?" she giggled, slurring the words but not so much that they mixed together to form a tornado of incoherent syllables. She wasn't that pissed.

"Yeah" he replied lazily, weaving around the few drunken bodies strewn across the common room "haven't mastered the spell of getting into the girls dorms yet. Don't worry, I'll get it before I leave" Ellie could hear the bragging in his voice and rolled her eyes. She uncomfortably raised her head, her lips still fairly far from Sirius' ears but she still whispered groggily anyway.

"Are you going to make love to me, Sirius?" she asked slowly and seriously before bursting out into raspy giggles. She could feel Sirius tense slightly. The sheer undignified manner she was emitting was painfully embarrassing and shocking - This wasn't Ellie. She didn't do this…her flirting had never gone this far before.

He ignored her statement, much to Ellie's surprise. Where was his usual flirty comment back?

"Sirius? Are you ignoring me?" she mused; the cadence in her voice had shown them both she was enjoying the mocking playfulness she was imposing on the oddly behaving 6th year boy.

"Ellie, shut up" he growled softly adjusting her on his shoulder

"Sirius Black, I am not some broom you can just throw-"

"Shut up Ellie" he laughed, even when drunk she was bossy

"You're really nice Sirius" she simply said

"So are you"

After climbing the steps, he quietly clambered into the room. Ellie saw Peter sleeping on the floor by the bathroom, James lying tangled up in the curtains, a mysterious set of feet jutting out from under his covers and Remus snoozing happily in his rightful bed. Sirius walked over to his bed and gently placed Ellie onto it, she smiled up at him gratefully whilst he shuffled awkwardly for a moment. He stalked away, grabbed a pillow off James' bed and made for the door.

Sleeping in the common room, how gentlemanly, Ellie thought to herself before giggling again.

"Sirius!" Ellie whispered

"Hmm?" he walked over again

"Where am I?" she giggled and moved to the far end of the bed "you can get in you know, I don't bite."

"No, it's fine. Ellie stop it, go to sleep" he grabbed at the girl nearly falling out of the bed

"Sirius! Come on" she opened the cover and gestured for him to climb in. They were fully clothed, nothing would happen, even though it could and they were in a room full of other people.

Besides, Sirius didn't like her like that.

"Do you fancy me?" she laid on her side and looked up at the shining eyes staring back alarmed, she giggled and turned on her stomach, she held herself with her elbows and continued to stare at him. Truthfully – Sirius Black looked troubled, Ellie was making him uncomfortable, she couldn't help it. She was weird when she was drunk. If only she could hear or see what he was thinking?

Ellie clambered half onto the boy, he was lying nervously still, what the hell was she doing? Her chest was on his and her face was inches from his

"Ellie, you're drunk" he whispered

"What would you do if I kissed you right now?" she moved her face closer

"Ellie," he didn't finish…her lips crushed onto his. His lips were soft and different from what she expected. What did she expect? The gentle kiss soon turned to an urgent need. Her hands flew to his hair, weaving her fingers through his trademark locks pulling slightly as she became lost in the kiss. Gently nibbling his lower lip, his long arms came to life and wound around her body…travelling across her waist, her hips, her…they stopped. She moved her head back and hiccupped; smiling down at him broadly, unable to read the emotions on his face. Sighing, she rolled off of him and laid her head on his thumping chest. Neither realising how much they liked it until she stopped abruptly.

"You're very nice Sirius. Even though you used to be mean and make me cry, I think you're very nice"

"I made you cry?"

"All the time."

"Ah,"

"You and the others, you were mean, but like I said - I like you now" she nuzzled her face into his arm and breathed in; she could feel his heart racing. He stayed silent, Ellie wasn't sure if it was because of her comments about their childhood or because of the kiss…the pretty amazing kiss, she might add.

"Ellie, I'm sorry" his voice rough but quieter than usual. No mock or degradation in his tone. She decided not to reply. What would she say…'thanks'? She struggled under the covers to find a comfy position before closing her eyes and falling blissfully asleep. Only Ellie and Sirius holding the secret of the night's events.

* * *

She awoke startled, completely dazed and alarmed. Her head was spinning aggressively, she didn't even attempt to move, and if she had she'd probably cry in pain. Her face was resting on something kind of squidgy yet firm; she raised her head slowly and blinked her eyes open properly. Peter? Remus?

What?

What were they doing in her room? What on earth was happening? She unhooked the arm from around her body and proceeded to glance arou- whose arm was that?!

Her heart was thumping so aggressively she was surprised no one woke, her breath was catching and as she glanced down to the sleeping person. She sighed thankfully. It was Sirius, at least it wasn't a random Ravenclaw…or Macnair. She stopped smiling and alarm crept onto her face yet again. Sirius? Sirius Bloody Black! Why on earth was she lying in bed next to him? Her hands flew to her chest and she squeezed, acknowledging she was wearing all of her clothes, she looked at him suspiciously and her expression softened. He was kind of sweet looking when he slept. She rolled her eyes but instantly regretted it, her head spun again. She flopped back down and cringed at the pain.

"What?" Sirius stirred next to her and groaned and mumbled, he scrambled around in the covers for a moment and turned on his side and sleepily clasped his arm around the now very awake and very apprehensive girl. She instantly smacked at his arm and glared as he sat up abruptly "Oh,"

"Oh?" she also sat up, the pair's shoulders touching, Sirius's soothingly warm.

"Morning!" he leaned back and stretched his back and arms then turned and smirked

"Why am I in your bed?"

"Because we're two sexy people that would inevitably get together" he winked and laid back resting on his elbows,

She sighed and glared "Sirius!"

"I refuse to yield. God Elladora, you're really something in bed" his obnoxious tone creeping back

"Obviously the best you've ever had" she deadpanned

"Obviously."

"Seriously, though?" she asked nervously. She glanced at him shyly, expecting the worse

"You were drunk, so I brought you here and you slept" he shrugged

"And nothing…happened?" hopefully asking

He paused for a while, "nothing happened" he sat up properly and swung his legs off of the bed and looked down into his hands

"Good." Ellie climbed up and walked round, she made for the door but stopped, she ran over to Sirius and hugged him briefly "Thanks, erm, for looking out for me" she released him and smiled. She lent forward and then whispered into his ear before departing "Oh and by the way, Mr Black…I really am something." she mused mockingly "but then again…you're pretty alright too, I guess" she shrugged and laughed at his expression

"Be gone, wench!" he muttered quietly waving her away

She brushed off his retort then pattered towards the door. Creeping out quietly, she heard Sirius complain angrily about the time. Silently laughing, she gently pulled the door to a close.

"Mate," she heard Remus' husky 'just woken up' voice "Was that Ellie?"

**A/N: *gasp* So…a couple of things I want to point out: 1) ugh I feel like a disappointment for not including cool stories of James Party :S Sowwy! You may punch me. 2) Sorry if it's very much listing i.e. 'Sirius did that, and then Ellie did this. She did this. She said that.' I realised that when rereading it. And omg it's so long. 3) Because I write this from Ellie's POV it was difficult to portray Sirius' emotions ect…I was going to swap it up, but then I thought, 30 chapters in…nah. So argbghrtgjdfgb sorry. *cries* 4) I like saying wench at the moment *shrugs***

**Sorry for ze ramble... :)**


	32. Mystery girl

_Thank you kindly to the lovely people who favourited/followed and reviewed: __**NoseBitingTeacup**__: ah so so many possibilities ;) hopefully this chapter adds frustration ;) ehehe and __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ – thank you…and Sirius is always hormonal, right? Aha :)_

_Okay: The first 600 words of this chapter are a bit meh, feel free to skip a little to when it gets a bit better (around the 1st line thingy) or don't :P_

**Mystery girl**

"Hey have you seen Ellie Aldern?" a voice materialised amongst the hundreds of books

"In here!" she cried, instantly regretting it. She had a wicked hangover and movement made her want to throw up

James Potter slithered out from the book shelves, a sleepy looking Remus beside him, "What are you all doing?" his eyes dropped to the object the girls were gathered around, as if it were sacred. "Hey, isn't that Sirius' book?"

She fiddled with the velvet coverings and looked at the boys guiltily, "I swiped it from your room" she explained chewing her lip, an apologetic smile creeping up

"I'll be glad it's gone, read that all the time he did, cuddled it – everything. Surprised he didn't try and snog it!" James broke out his signature crooked grin and chortled loudly

"Stop yelling!" Alice whispered dangerously, she had been away a lot recently, constantly revising for her upcoming NEWT's so it was lovely to see her at Potter's party.

"No wonder…it's very interesting!" Dorcas whispered. Remus weaved through his friends and gently draped his arms over his girlfriend's shoulders, kissing the top of her head tenderly. It was sweet, admittedly, however, all in the room were tired and hung-over – they didn't want to see the sickly sweet encounter.

"Will you please stop touching each other? It's off-putting! I'm trying to not vomit!" Marlene growled, her tone dripping with bitterness and intoxication

Lily rocked back and forth nodding in and out of consciousness; she groaned rubbing her eyes and wiping drool from her mouth. James perched beside her, smiling soothingly. She blushed then glared "Stop looking at me like that Potter!"

"Glad to see you had fun at my party last night" he smirked

"Shut it."

"Really? Please stop ginger, your voice is excruciatingly shrill and whiny at the moment!" Marlene moaned

"Oh McKinnon, don't be a bitch all your life" James laughed

"Okay, okay, before we all kill each other" Remus smiled

"Where's the other gits?" Marlene asked

"Peter was literally puking up his kidneys!" James sniggered "bloody hilarious!"

"Sirius is sulking" Remus included

"How comes?" Ellie sniffed, he was fine earlier. She shook the thought from her head. She decided not to tell anyone, they would've assumed the worst.

She turned her attention to her notebook – it didn't contain potions or transfiguration notes like it should have. But instead fact files. Mini fact files. "I made notes." She explained. She was hoping Sirius would be there. He was the one after all that had persisted this. "About the Alderns, I was thinking about sharing them with my friends, you know. I guess it _is_ important I know about them. It's not..." Ellie explained flipping through the pages, "It's neither overly colourful nor interesting. But the simple facts, I organised them-"

"No one cares, Ell. Even hung over, your weird organisational skills never cease, do they? Just get on with it!" Marlene snapped

"Fine!"

Ellie cleared her throat, ready to open up all about her past when all 7 pairs of eyes turned to the entrance of the library. A cloud of smoke, a colossal thump and a couple of yelps drew the attention from everyone on that Saturday morning.

"For the love of Merlin's smelly socks, what the _hell_ is happening now?" Marlene whimpered.

"Bloody hell!" a voice coughed from the smoke.

"Padfoot? Are you trying to kill everyone?" James laughed as his best friend clambered through the scene

"Prongs, I have no idea what you are- Ahh, Madame Pince, you look beautiful today, really." He smiled smoothly at the young librarian, he continued to spiel some more rubbish about her looks as a blush crept onto her cheeks. He knew, as did everyone else, he'd get away with it. No one could reprimand him when he unleashed his charm.

"I can't believe you losers are actually working on a weekend!" he scoffed unbelievingly as he swaggered over

"Actually," Remus started, "we were-"

"Yeah, studying…bit of a bore really." Ellie rushed. She smiled gently at Remus, he didn't say anything, just stared confused

"I'm bored as hell, I was thinking Hogsmeade" he simply suggested then turned to his fellow Marauders a cheeky smirk playing on his face.

* * *

The group has scattered around the village upon arrival, so Ellie was left with James to venture to the ice cream parlour. She strolled alongside him, Remus and Dorcas "So Ellie, you wouldn't happen to know about Sirius' mystery girl would you?" James asked as they pulled up chairs and tables outside. Remus, Dorcas and Ellie all stared at the messy haired boy in alarm.

"Mystery girl? Oh, who? Share!" Dorcas squealed

Ellie's heart skipped a beat. She coughed gently, covering her mini heart palpitation.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Ellie shrugged, she sat opposite Remus who was staring at her curiously

"I didn't know Sirius was seeing anyone" the tired looking boy interjected

"Oh no, he's not, but there was a girl in his bed last night. Ooh peanut butter ice cream, Jesus, I need this in my life," James started "actually no, triple chocolate, shit…what one?" he looked to Ellie desperately

"Triple chocolate."

"But…"

"Both?"

"Why not?" he grinned "Yeah, so I asked him. And he said, and I quote 'yeah she was a decent shag', then he went and hexed a couple of kids" he shrugged and smirked before jumping up to order the ice cream "good ol' Sirius!"

Ellie's heart leapt into her mouth, her palms were dripping with sweat and she swore she could feel the pulse in her ears exploding. She glanced up and around nervously, smiling weakly at Dorcas, who, just like James, was getting excited over the vast possibilities of ice cream. Her eyes fell onto Remus. He merely gawped at her. His eyes slightly wider, his face slightly shocked. They stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds, which felt like eternity, before she shook her head slowly and looked away, tears swelling in her eyes.

* * *

She stood at the counter staring blankly at the ice cream combinations – banana and cinnamon, cookie dough, caramel cockroach and dark chocolate dragon drops – ew.

"So what did you want to show me earlier?" Sirius appeared by her side handing money to the owner. She didn't understand at first, but realised she did try to show him the notebook of her past. She ignored him and shuddered at his concoction of ice cream and was about to ridicule him mercilessly but she remembered…

"You horrible, awful, disgusting creature. What did you do? What did you bloody do Sirius?" she growled jabbing him in the chest.

* * *

"What the hell are you talking about?" he whispered angrily, pulling her away to the side "Ellie, seriously, what the hell is up with you?"

"Up with me? What's up with you? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I literally have no idea…"

"…as soon as I think we're friends…"

"…we _are_ friends…"

"…you go and say such things…"

"…what things?!"

"…you make me so angry…"

"Elladora!" he growled dangerously, "Will you stop talking rubbish, stop acting like Evans and let me get a word in edge ways?" he relaxed his tones and looked into her angry eyes, his expression was confused, which only angered her more "what is up with you?"

"You! You're what's up with me! I, you…" she waved her arms around looking for an appropriate word to show her anger. But instead she lowered her voice to a deathly decibel "Was I decent _shag_?" she spat venomously, "hmm? Because James, seems to think the girl in your bed last night was some random whore with whom you had fun with!" her breath was uneven and she could've swore she was going borderline crazy "Good ol' Sirius!"

She turned on her heel and lurched towards the counter. She grabbed her ice cream – a respectable mint chocolate chip, and grabbed Sirius' ice cream also. She stomped towards the door, threw the boy's ice cream dramatically in the bin, twirled to him and glared before disappearing out of the shop and into the sunlight. It was childish but so was he.

* * *

Remus sat in a seat, Dorcas on his lap. James leant on the table shoving ice cream into his face whilst Lily sat opposite staring in disgust. Peter hovered close by reading a book about quidditch, claiming to be queasy from too much puking. Frank and Alice squeezed into a chair, Frank twirling his girlfriend's beautiful blonde hair while she stroked Marlene's hair soothingly. Marlene was perched on the floor hugging the table leg and sulking into her ice cream cone.

"It is too hot! My ice cream is melting!" she growled.

"Marlene, I did tell you, downing that Firewhiskey…" Alice reprimanded

"…And that odd muggle alcohol…" Frank added

"…oh yes, that disgusting stuff…"

"Yeah, mum, dad, I really do not need a lesson right now!" Marlene muttered. Ellie smiled to Frank and Alice and laughed quietly, they were probably the most adorable people she had met, she was sad to see them leaving in a couple of months.

Ellie adored her friends and despite her recent angst she smiled broadly at her pals and happily pulled a chair from thin air with a wave of her wand and sat beside the odd group.

"Oh Sirius, honey, you look like you've seen a ghost." Alice cried, Ellie turned and looked towards the ice cream parlour door. Sirius did in fact, look sickly and pale. She raised her eyebrows and turned back to her ice cream, eating slowly and moodily.

"It's because I was shocked by your beauty Alice, my love"

"Oi, watch it Black!" Frank chuckled, glaring jokingly at the 6th year. He turned his attention to James, who was now on his third helping of ice cream "so the quidditch match next month, it's out last one, make it good"

"Of course Longbottom!"

Ellie zoned out, as much as she enjoyed everyone's company, the idea of listening to the boys harp on about sports and the girls giggling about dresses made her stomach uneasy.

"Budge over," Sirius' voice whispered into her ear, his breath tickled and his strong aftershave itched her throat. He was leaning over her, ice cream in hand as if offering her some.

"Find you own seat!" she grumbled, not daring to look at him

"Ellie, just get up!"

"No!"

"You can sit on my lap; I need to talk to you"

"I am not sitting on your lap, like some child!"

"Stop being so stubborn!"

"I'm not! I'd just rather not sit with someone who's been acting weird with me all day, and lies! I don't even know if it was a lie, Jesus Christ, Sirius, I asked you if anything happened. Did it? Actually you what, don't bother answering that, you'll only bloody lie again! What are you- what, hey!" Ellie continued to utter her rant quietly but with all the same venom, before Sirius sat on the arm on the chair and slid down onto her lap

"Are you going to let me sit?" his voice dripping with mock

"Get off Black!"

"Don't call me Black!" he mumbled exasperatedly

"What are you two doing?" a voice asked, the two Gryffindors glanced up quickly, being shaken from their silly squabble to meet 8 people staring at them bemused.

"Just chatting" Sirius explained fidgeting until Ellie had to move aside slightly to allow him squidge in next to her. "Nice and cosy" he murmured into her ear. A bit too cosy.

"Look, I only said I slept with that girl in my bed, because…" he shoved a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth avoiding the question and thinking of what to say, "I'm Sirius Black…James was expecting me to say that. What else was I meant to say…"

"…Oh I don't know…" she responded turning to him and glaring with all her might "'oh it was only Ellie, you know, our _friend_, she was drunk and I looked after her, nothing happened', what about that, that seems like a perfectly justifiable explanation, does it not Sirius?"

"You're over analysing things again Ell" he laughed

She sighed and shook her head. "Did anything happen Sirius, honestly?" She whispered into his ear. He recoiled slightly and closed his eyes briefly before throwing a smile onto his face and offered her the ice cream. She prodded the dessert with her finger, scooping up a little and bringing it to her mouth…before she could decide whether she liked it, Sirius scrambled up, throwing her about a little. He side stepped around the chair and lent forward.

"Don't worry, Ellie…nothing happened."

**A/N: Okay, I'm having an internal struggle with this story…it's really disappointing me at the moment. One moment I don't think my heart's in it, then the next it's like 'AERGHGFHGUKI MUST WRITE!' please tell me I'm not the only one? So I'm currently writing (well…thinking) about a new story and I may post it soon, idk…ahh decisions. And hey…I would also like to, er, take this opportunity to tell my readers, who also write – erm…update *cough* or, I'll erm…cry *cries anyway* :)**


	33. Attack

_Oh wow thank you for the lovely reviews, they made me grin stupidly. __**InsanityInsanity**__ – definitely a demand, definitely, loving your story at the moment! __**C-c-crazy13**__ – thank you, that's so nice of you to say! :D More Ellie and Sirius next chapter (especially the ending of it :D) ! __**ellinise**__ – It's funny you say that, more about her past was going to be in this chapter and the last but I've moved it to the next one (otherwise the word count would've been huge) and ah yay, I love the name Ellie :D __**Spottedmask12**__ – I will continue the story, it's just every so often it makes me distressed haha and I hope you do update soon :')_

**Attack**

"What the hell is going on with you two? Did you have _sex?_" Remus breathed heavily, he jogged up to the two arguing as they stomped towards Zonko's.

"No Moony, don't be ridiculous. It's _Ellie_."

"Good, I mean…we were in the room at the time, which would be kind of strange. But then again there was that incident with Felicity Beaker…that was just all over weird" Remus mused

"Shut up!" Sirius growled.

"Why didn't you just tell James it was Ellie?"

"That's what I said."

"Shut it, both of you!"

"You can be a bit of an idiot at times Sirius" Remus joked, he looked back down the street "I'm off to the post office, catch you both later" Remus jogged off again leaving Ellie to stare at the scowling boy.

"Don't look at me like that! If anyone should be angry, it's me!" she pulled her note book from her bag "Besides, I did actually want to show you something earlier, but you were ignoring me" she waved the notebook in his face, he snatched it away and shoved it in his back pocket.

"Yeah, I'll look at it later, bit busy at the moment"

She scoffed "Doing what? Yearning over Zonko's?"

"Yeah" he twirled around and skulked off to the shop

"Oh for God's sake!" she mumbled under breath. "_That_ boy is so frustrating, I'd love to…"

"Love to what, sweetie?" Ellie swivelled around alarmed

"Um, never mind" she shook her head and gazed at the new arrivals. They were…intriguing to look at. The two women captivated her. One was tall and skinny with blonde curly hair, her sense of style was appalling, she couldn't have been much older than 20 but her ghastly scowl aged her sufficiently. The other was short and chubby, her hair was greying and she wore a mixture of what seemed to be crocodile skin and fake fur. She smelt musty and cackled frighteningly.

"Nessie Clobworth, journalist and this is my assistant…"

"…and trainee reporter…" the blonde interjected

"Rita Skeeter"

"Care to share?"

"We are most intrigued!"

"Tell us about yourself"

"Was he your boyfriend?" they erupted into rude snickers which for some reason angered Ellie, she huffed and side stepped around them. But they impeded her path.

"Wait, wait, wait! Tell us your opinions on the Dark Lord" Clobworth raised her eyebrows and awaited Ellie's inevitable opinions.

"Voldemort is a pathetic excuse for a dictator!" she growled

"Oh! Feisty! Jot that down"

"No, don't _jot_ that down!" Ellie grumbled snatching the papers away

"Darling," she cooed condescendingly, "It's important we get insights!"

"All you need to know is that no one is actually going to let him take over and issue horrible laws about muggleborns. He's vile and pathetic and will be beaten! He, he…" she rambled but stopped. She realised she must have sounded like a loony. She shook from her rant.

"Hey, Aldern, Dorcas is looking for you!" Hufflepuff Reginald Cattermole called; he smiled warmly at her and darted away, his cheery voice rumbled through the near silent street. The two witches eyed her up and quickly scribbled down in their notebook. Ellie rolled her eyes at the random witches

"Anything else… Miss Aldern"

"Look, I don't appreciate you jumping up on me like this." She mumbled and scrambled away towards Zonko's.

"Hey, who were they?" Marlene asked as Ellie sulkily stomped to the entrance. The blonde stood admiring her bag of dungbombs.

"I have no idea, I think they with some newspaper"

"You should be careful Ellie" Peter appeared "media is screwed up! They twist everything but people are content on taking it all as the truth."

"He is right you know"

"People take newspapers as gospel" Lily interjected sympathetically patting Ellie who grumbled uncomfortably.

* * *

Ellie Aldern sat outside on the cobbled street with Lily Evans and Peter Pettigrew discussing James' party. The late March sun was fairly warm and slightly hindering their sight, the cobbled road was busy with students gossiping and shopping.

"I mean, really, it was a bit excessive"

"It was _fun_, Lily!" Ellie disagreed

"Well, yes. But really. Were the toads necessary?"

"They were Ellie's idea" Peter offered

"Lies! Peter!" she jabbed a finger at him "I merely suggested the placement…"

"…_you!_ You told them to put them in the balloons? Ellie!" Lily screeched. Peter broke down is raspy cackles, receiving a glare from the curly haired witch.

"It was a…" she stopped...

* * *

A piercing scream filtered into the air. The three students glanced around wide eyed and alarmed. Ellie squinting through the sunlight, turned abruptly when she heard the shop bells tingle emitting students

"Did anybody else hear a...?" a 7th year Ravenclaw called

"A scream?" James Potter shouted

"What was that?" A small 1st year Slytherin cried, Honeyduke's merchandise in her small clutches "Did you hear that too?"

Ellie felt her hear skip a beat…something which had been happening a lot today. She clambered up with Lily and stepped forward onto the street. Strolling, ever so calmly, around the corner was a hooded figure. He was tall and daunting but alone.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?" A 7th year bellowed, he lurched into the street and swaggered towards the figure flagged by his friends, "What did you-" The figure merely swished his wand and the boy flew back into the crowds of students.

Inevitably causing chaos to erupt.

Students rushed back to the trail to school or into the safety of the shops, just when more figures apparated into the village. Some hidden by masks, others unafraid of being revealed.

"Shit!" Lily panicked

"It'll be fine, Lil, just go back to the castle" Ellie grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly

"They want me, people like me, mud-"

"Don't you dare!" Ellie tightened her grip scowling at her friend

"Agreed!" Potter snarled, he grabbed Lily's other arm and pulled her away from Ellie, then aggressively pushed her into Honeyduke's.

Ellie stood feet planted onto the cobbled floor as the death eaters created havoc. Older students stayed, running to and fro, throwing curses, throwing hexes, but not succeeding in thwarting their vicious spells. The death eaters fought back brutally – smashing windows, screaming prejudices and hurling nasty curses. It was ridiculous, they were only students, only young…they had no experiences with fighting, no battle skills, no ability to fight the enemy. However a surge of pride did wash over her. Seeing inexperienced, innocent youths determined to smash evil made her proud to be a witch. A scream brought her back to reality; her eyes darted around the scene - Blood oozing from wounds. Casualties lying on the floor. Glass shards scattered.

"Shit!" someone cursed

"Filthy mudbloods!"

"Come on kiddies, we're not going to hurt you!"

"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" a woman screeched. Her hair was wild and cascading down her back. She had sunken eyes. She would've been rather pretty if it wasn't for her crazed look and of course her attempt of harming people.

The window blasted from the wall, shards flying everywhere. Wizards and witches scrambled out wands at the ready. Elderly women scuttled towards the three broomsticks whilst students darted away.

"That's Bellatrix Lestrange, be careful Ellie, she's dangerous!" Alice whispered urgently as she scuttled past throwing a bewitchment towards the tallest death eater. Somehow seeing such a small delicate fairy like girl like Alice descend upon the intruders and fight, made Ellie realise she couldn't just stand there. She scrambled for her wand then swished it messily toward a cloaked figure.

"Ellie!" James called, "are you okay, come on!"

"PROTEGO!" Lily screeched beside James

"Lily! I told you to get back to the castle! God, woman, don't you ever listen!"

"Oh shut up James! I'm helping" she yelled back before shooting a curse at an oblivious death eater. He dropped like a fly

"I don't want you to get hurt!" he barked

Lily looked to James warmly, a small delicate smile edging onto her rosy cheeks.

"What are they doing here?" James continued, unaware of Lily's admiring smile.

"Probably recruiting, mate" Ellie heard Sirius growl, he had just tumbled out of the shop upon hearing the commotion. He ran forward, wand at the ready "Jesus, he's just a kid!" He shouted charging up to a death eater who had a small child dangling in the air, blood spurting from his nose and whimpering quietly. Sirius decided to disregard magic altogether and threw a very powerful very audible punch. His fist collided with the intruder's jaw making a sickening crack. Ellie shuddered at the violence. She staggered forward wearily and swished her wand again; she had not yet mastered silent spells, so muttered incantations under her breath to avoid attention from nasty death eaters.

"Ellie? What are you doing here?" Ellie swivelled around, wand at the ready, but came face to face with Dylan Baker. He ignored her threatening posture and turned to the boys "Why don't you take the girls back to the castle?" He yelled accusingly

"Because, mate, they're not damsels in distress!" Sirius bit back

"I refuse to leave!" Marlene barked wiping blood from her head as she clambered towards the group

Dylan sighed as the group again dispersed. James leapt in front of a curse intended for Lily whilst she took aim and stunned.

Sirius dropped to the floor dragging a Hufflepuff down with him avoiding a curse from Bellatrix.

"Siri! Siri! It's only me!" She cooed dancing as she set fire to the roof of Honeydukes. Ellie charged at her, pushing her down and literally screaming "Petrificus Totalus" in her snide looking face.

Ellie stumbled back and threw curses at unsuspecting death eaters, out of the corner of her eye she saw aurors apparate onto the scene. She couldn't help sigh with relief. They were just students. They couldn't fight a couple dozen death eaters. And no matter how many curses they threw, they were still unprepared in battle.

"Get- them- out- of- here!" James yelled as he nodded towards the girls, Sirius nodded and charged over ot Ellie, tugging at her arm.

"Get off! Get Lily and Marlene!" she asked pleadingly. His mouth moved up and down like a fish, contemplating what he should do. "Think about it Sirius, really, really think about it! Out of all of us, who is in more danger?" she stressed, Sirius nodded quickly, realising what she was getting at.

"Ellie? Try to not to get cursed, yeah?" Sirius mused, he ran off as the scene started dying down. Alas death eaters were still content on destroying.

* * *

"Elladora Aldern! You are coming with me right now!" Dylan yelled, sprinting over

"Aldern?" Three death eaters stopped and turned abruptly, they glanced amongst each other then scampered towards the two students. Ellie latched onto Dylan's arm and stumbled forward, "Yeah, I think we _should_ go now!" she nodded nervously and allowed Dylan to drag her away.

"CRUCIO!" Ellie heard a snarl erupt, Dylan dropped down beside her writihing in pain, her face broke into a heartbroken stare, what was she to do? He screamed and shook as his face smashed into the pavement. Ellie turned to see the death eater himself fall back onto the floor, an auror – Alastor something – began duelling all three, throwing curses and jinxes whilst managing to dodge the ones aimed at him.

"Here, let me take him. Go on, go back to the castle. All students are to go back now, message from Dumbledore, go. Go!" madame Rosmerta scuttled over, she dragged Dylan up and pulled him away from Ellie, leaving her alone in the commotion. She twirled around on the spot taking it all in, unable to run to safety.

A small girl tripped in the hustle and bustle and sprawled onto the floor. The witch from earlier, Bellatrix, descended upon her, wand raised, a mischievous twinkle playing in her eyes.

"No!" Ellie yelled, she unstuck her feet and staggered towards the frightened child, she was so small, if Ellie hadn't seen her around school, she would've have easily mistaken her as someone of around age 8 "hey, hey, shhh it's okay, come on. Come with me!" Ellie soothed as she swooped down blocking Bellatrix from the girl.

"I've hurt my leg!" she sniffed, she gestured at her ankle which was twisting in an unsightly way

"INCENDIO!" she heard the recognisable shriek and stood up turning hastily, she staggered back as her cardigan caught fire. Ellie struggled to pull off the smoking garment and glared at the excited death eater. A gleam of mischief played in her eyes and she danced around slightly before raising her wand again.

"STU-"

"Protego!" Ellie cried. Bellatrix flew back onto the cobbled pavement dazed; Ellie heard the rough voice behind her.

"Good one" Sirius whispered, he clutched her arm and pulled her "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Wait! The little girl!" She signalled to the girl cowering on the floor still, no one bothered to help or protect her.

Sirius looked from the girl to Ellie, nodded and swooped down, he tugged up the girl and slung her over his shoulder, the three students turned to run towards the castle or anywhere safe. Curses continued to fly.

"Aldern!" someone called, stupidly Ellie turned, only to be met with a confundo charm. Her hearing altered and her eyes swivelled, she was dazed and confused…Why was she here? She turned back to see Sirius and a small girl far away. She outstretched her arm numbly and grabbed at the air. She saw Sirius stop and put the girl down, he thundered back down towards Ellie.

"Ell, come on!" he tugged her desperately

"Aldern!" someone growled, she attempted to turn again, who kept calling her?

"Aldern!" another shriek called her name

"Merlin!" Sirius bellowed, he snatched her arm tightening the grip and literally heaving her from the scene, jinxes flew at them, fire attacked their clothes and smoke filtered into their path. They scrambled up a rocky path way, pulling up the little girl and charging towards the castle, not looking back.

Upon reaching the stone steps, the three students collapsed.

"Jesus Christ!" Sirius breathed

"Why were they calling your name?" the little girl questioned rubbing her ankle, blood strewn across her face.

"I don't know" she shrugged, still dazed. She stepped over Sirius strewn across the steps and tentatively wiped blood from his eyebrow, she sat beside him and pulled him into a powerful hug, breathing him in and rubbing his back soothingly.

"At least we're not dead" she muttered into his shoulder

"They wouldn't have killed you."

"Of course they would have."

Sirius didn't reply, there was no point denying it. He just smiled weakly and patted her back, "Yeah, at least we're not dead."

**A/N: Felt this story needed some death eater/attacking/danger stuff…the next chapter is kind of about the Alderns…and I've already written the ending to the chapter and idk, I kind of like it :) I'll probably finish and update by Wednesday (I hope :D)**

**Again, thank you so much for reading! :D**


	34. The Alderns

_Howdy, thank you for the reviews! __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx **__thank you for the support, haha, I will continue, I have the story kinda planned, I was just having a moment :P Love your story, update soon please! My new story (not for definite though) would be a Regulus/OC/Sirius story :3 __**Ellinise**__ – I'm afraid this may not be as brilliant as I may have made it out to be, but thank you so much for the lovely support and reviews you give me, it's so appreciated ^-^ __**Spottedmask12**__ – Thank you! :) I love your reviews! Update your story or I'll cry ;) __**MsCinammon**__ - *gasp* I just realised you've written a Sirius/OC story :D I'll be checking that out tonight! And awh thank you for taking the time to read my story :3_

_I feel like I use waaaay too many smileys :) :( :3 ^-^ :D Oh well! Thanks forr reading hugs for all!_

**Aldern**

_ The question must be asked: what were death eaters doing in the village of Hogsmeade on Saturday 26__th__ March and…_

"What a load of rubbish, we _know_ why they were there!" Sirius growled as he threw the newspaper onto the floor

"Yeah." Ellie shrugged. It had been almost two weeks since the attack but it was still playing on everyone's mind. No one had died - Thank god. But something else was also playing on Ellie's mind: The death eaters, who had taken an interest in her when Dylan called her name, had been twirling in Ellie's mind. She wondered what they wanted, but she realised it almost immediately – either her dead, silent, or to recruit. Why, though, is what she asked herself multiple times.

"What's with the sulky face?" Sirius asked, he strolled up to her curiously

"They think I'm like them." She whispered quietly

"What are you talking about" he stood over her, his eyes softening and gazing at her gently

She stood up and snaked her arm around him and made for his back pocket

He chuckled roughly, "Oh a much needed sexual advance, Finally Elladora, so glad you've seen sense and..." she pulled the small notebook from his back pocket; his eyes fell onto the book and he himself fell silent.

"Oh quiet you!" she giggled

"Yeah, didn't get a chance to look at that" he smiled apologetically.

"Ugh Sirius, haven't you washed your trousers since the attack?"

"I've been busy"

"You're disgusting, it's been ages!"

"Quiet!" he snickered softly

She rifled through the small pages coming to the scribbled notes of her Great Uncle. She held it out to Sirius who scanned it briefly and shrugged.

"Don't you see? He was a traitor. Well, to the Alderns. He was bad, he was evil, he…" she stopped suddenly

"This doesn't mean anything"

"Yes it does Sirius! It means I don't know what side the 'Alderns' should be on!" She grabbed the book back "Are we good because we didn't give into dark magic and evil prejudices? Or are we, I mean, me, am I meant to be evil because of _him!_" She prodded the page and glanced at Sirius desperately

"The Alderns aren't evil. You are not evil, Ellie! You're you! You don't have to be what they were and you most definitely shouldn't let some random ancestor make you doubt that…"

"…but…"

"…but nothing Elladora!" he held her arm gently before pulling away and shuffling awkwardly "You are nothing like those evil families."

"Do death eaters want me dead because I'm an Aldern? Or do they want me because of my uncle; he was 'good' in their eyes after all? What am I supposed to do?" tears filled into her sparkly eyes and she waved her arms around haphazardly, "and now I'm getting flustered! Merlin!" she cursed

Sirius chuckled softly

"Don't laugh at me!" she sulked, she flopped down onto the grass and flipped through the pages again, jabbing each page and groaning

"Ellie, you can be your own person, you don't need to focus on whether you'll be a good Aldern. You can be just you!" he sat beside her, being careful not to touch her. He looked nervous but she merely ignored it. He was probably still a little pissed at her for many reasons she didn't know or care about. He looked down at the book and smiled to her "this was quite interesting, I didn't read anything about the twins" She sniffled and wiped her nose unattractively.

"I just simplified those huge biographies." She shrugged.

"Excuse me?" A soft voice called from behind, Sirius turned and sighed "Black, Professor Rayner wants to see you"

"Go tell him I'm busy, Baker." Sirius drawled

"Well, Black, he's pretty angry! You don't want to be banned from the next quidditch game, do you?" Dylan's usual soft voice snarled venomously

"Fine." Sirius growled back, he turned back to Ellie who was still leafing through the pages absentmindedly "I'll meet you for dinner, yeah?" he prodded her shoulder, she looked up and grinned broadly, she wiped her dripping eyes and cleared her throat

"Of course"

Sirius rose from the floor, Ellie didn't turn to see him leave but heard the door slam and someone shuffle towards her. She looked up and saw Dylan Baker smiled softly down at her before sitting. Ellie had always found him insanely attractive, and five months after their 'split' she still couldn't shake her attraction to him. He had that nice boy persona, that comforting personality.

"Still hanging around with the marauders then?" he asked

"Yeah, they're kind of cool" she laughed

"He's got a bit of an attitude doesn't he?" Dylan asked casually, although Ellie could tell he loathed Sirius

"Sirius can be…difficult at times"

He chuckled roughly "Last time you hung around with him, he made you sad all the time"

"That was five months ago"

"It doesn't matter how long ago it was, he still hurt you" His eyes darted from Ellie to the lake.

"Hmm. Look, I know I've already said, but...thank you so much Dylan. Thank you for saving…"

"…I didn't save you…"

"…You kind of did!"

Dylan shrugged modestly and cleared his throat embarrassed "Ell,"

"I mean, the cruciatus curse! Merlin! I mean…" she paused to think of something decent to say but only managed: "I'm sorry, it was my fault and you got hurt and I couldn't help and you were in pain and I…"

"Ellie, come on stop, it's okay, I couldn't just leave you. Why are you upset?"

"Upset, I'm, I'm not upset, I'm fine." She shrugged and smiled nervously, she could feel the same stinging sensation in her eyes indicating the tears were coming.

"Come here" he whispered softly, his voice soothed her and his arm wrapped around her. He was more comforting than anyone had been in the last couple of weeks. He chuckled quietly as she absentmindley snuggled closer to him.

"What's this?" he pointed towards the notebook

"Biographies of my family"

"The Alderns? You've finally looked into them?"

"Yeah, I was going to express my fear about them to Sirius but he's now buggered off." She shrugged

"I'll listen" he offered

"You sure?" she sat up straight and eyed him nervously, "It'll be boring" concern crept onto her face, she really did want to express to someone.

"Yes, come on. I'm intrigued now." He laughed running his hand through his perfectly styled hair.

"They're a bit confusing..."

"Go!"

* * *

_Percival Aldern – dad_

_Born: July 7__th__ 1925_

_Died: sometime in June 1960 _

_Married Seraphina Macmillan 20__th__ February 1951_

_One brother_

* * *

_Seraphina Aldern (nee Macmillan) – mum_

_Born: January 2__nd__ 1932_

_Died: sometime in June 1960 _

_Note to self: research the Macmillan family. Did she have brothers and sisters?!_

"Isn't there a Macmillan in 4th year?" Dylan interrupted

"I don't know, is there? Are they good?" she whispered eagerly

"Good?"

"Are they good or are they Voldemort supporters?" Ellie acknowledged Dylan's bewildered expression and dropped the good vs. evil idea. He obviously didn't get how the 'good and bad' aspects of people intrigued her. She cleared her throat.

_Marius Aldern I – Grandfather _

_Born: 1905 _

_Died: unknown between 1940-1957 _

_Married Violet Black 6__th__ October 1922_

_One brother and sister _

* * *

_Violet Black – Grandmother _

_Much information unknown_

_Note to self: ask Sirius. _

"Why ask Sirius?"

"He is a Black. I'm sure he'd know something. Wouldn't he?"

_Marius Aldern II – Uncle_

_Born: September 13__th__ 1923_

_Died: June 1__st__ 1960_

_2 children with unknown – Violet and Charles Aldern. _

_Born 8__th__ March 1946. Died 1960_

_They were only 14?!_

"14! They were so young!" Ellie yelped as she reread her notes, she felt Dylan's arm tighten around her, his hand stroking her back soothingly "how can people want to kill children…"

"…it's horrible"

"Why is the world so screwed up and content in being in power all the time!" she growled, "and him! This guy!" she bellowed jabbing the next page, the words scribbled messily at the top indicated she was discussing her great uncle. The way she stabbed the page with such venom indicated she had read a lot about Cyrus Aldern, more than what was written on his fact file.

_Cyrus Aldern – Great uncle_

_Marius' older brother_

_Born: December 1894 _

_Died: between 1946 and 1959_

_Children: 3 boys and 2 girls_

* * *

_Sorella Aldern – Great aunt_

_Younger sister to Marius and Cyrus_

_Born: May 20__th__ 1907_

_Died: December 31__st__ 1937_

_Children: 2 boys (illegitimate)_

* * *

"Wait, so what's wrong with Cyrus? Why do you hate him?" Dylan asked. She was just about to get onto that. She sighed and closed the notebook, she had nearly memorised everything about her great uncle.

"He turned on the Alderns. He was desperate for power. I mean, the Alderns already were a very powerful family," she shrugged and grimaced "I guess he wanted more. He killed and cursed and stole and…he killed his sister…" she uttered quietly almost ashamed to even share his name

"Sorella Ald- _Why_?" Dylan sounded horrified

"I don't know! He was mental and he…he was a traitor." She laughed unbelievably. She clambered out of his hold and stood up clumsily. Dylan followed her suit and gently placed his hand on her waist

"Ellie, I'm sorry…"

"…you don't need to be sorry, not you fault my family is messed up" she smiled "honestly I'm okay now, I guess I just need to rant a little"

"I'm always here"

She moved from him again and up towards the castle doors, he followed closely. "Thank you Dylan. For everything of course – you know, saving me" he rolled his eyes "listening to my moan" he grinned "and, thanks." She shrugged and looked around awkwardly for a couple of minutes, he lurched forward and hugged her briefly. She pulled away almost immediately and tugged open the door, throwing him a small smile before scurrying away. She didn't want Dylan to see her blush, she didn't want to melt at his touch or giggle foolishly when he smiled. Five months on, she was still beaten by his handsome grin.

* * *

"Nice time with Baker?" came Sirius' snide voice.

"Wondrous!" she deadpanned

"Glad to hear it." He raised his eyebrows at the girl who was nervously wringing the notebook in her hand

"I _am_ sorry I lied about shagging the mystery girl" he shrugged

"I forgave you almost straight after you gave me your ice cream" she smiled reminiscently, that odd concoction of his was actually rather delicious.

"You're an idiot!" he scoffed

"I told Dylan about Cyrus"

"Dylan Baker is a toss pot"

"Dylan Baker saved my life!" she defended. Sirius didn't reply, she looked to him nervously, "and you obviously."

He smiled broadly, obviously proud.

"He's still a bit of a git"

"And you're not?" she grinned

"I'm a lovable git" he draped his arm around her, the first real physical contact in quite a while.

"You're a pure obnoxious git"

"Who is amazing at quidditch" he offered

"Nope, I still think Charlie Hilton is better"

"That idiotic Hufflepuff?!"

"He's rather good looking"

"He's a toss pot too"

"But ten times better than you, in so, so many ways" she mused

Sirius shoved her gently as they strolled towards the great hall, Ellie stumbled forward slightly but was quick as a fox in payback, and with all her might she pushed him. He fell with a thud on the stone floor and grimaced; Ellie stepped over him and crouched down

"Oh God, I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd _fall_"

"That's what people tend to do when they're pushed…" he chided jokingly. She stood back up and smirked down at him.

"You really need to improve your stamina Siri-" she yelped before she could finish her sentence, Sirius had grabbed her ankle before she could saunter away and tugged. She mumbled as she fell unflatteringly on top of him.

"...If I recall, we were in this compromising position a couple of weeks ago" he pondered, raising his eyebrows and stroking the back of her head oddly. She shuddered slightly…it was awkward...but kind of nice.

"What are you doing?" she murmured slowly and gently

"The sexual tension between us is…"

"…Sirius…" she whined

"…I mean…"

"…Must you turn everything into something weird" she rolled off him and lay beside him in the middle of the corridor. Anyone could walk by at any moment but they just stayed there quietly, breathing evening out, arms touching, faces towards the ceiling. Sirius broke into rough sniggers. Ellie inevitably joined in and soon they were cackling loudly strewn across the floor pulling scary/ugly/idiotic faces at each other.

She blushed as he pulled an unattractive, yet totally charming facial expression. She could feel her chest tightening…she was looking at Sirius liked she had been looking at Dylan, she was melting at his touch, just how she had melted at Dylan's…No, no, no! This was Sirius! She didn't want to see him how she saw Dylan Baker, she wouldn't, she couldn't…nope.

Oh Merlin, what is happening?

**A/N: Okay, few notes: The biographies /alderns - oh lord, I really didn't know how to add them to my story, sorry, they're just kind of mini commentaries by Ellie, and oh Gosh, if the dates don't add up and it turns out Ellie's parents married when the mum was like 12 i'm sorry...dates are not my forte. Sorry for the cheesy ending, I personally think it's a little cute, but opinions obviously differ ^-^ haha, thank you for reading. Please excuse my ramble :) hugs ~ K**


	35. The fool and the fiend

_Thank you for all the lovely reviews, seriously, they mean so much :D __**Happypanda19**__ – Thank you! *hugs*:3 ehehe, yeah poor Ellie, but she loves the dilemmas really ;) __**xxSiriusxxforeverxx**__ – actually love you! Rambling and capslock are absolutely welcome hehe, thank you so much for the lovely words and hmm the romance situation…well… :P *evil laughter* __**Spottedmask12**__ – apologies for the slow update, hope you enjoy 3 :D __**ellinise**__ – ^-^ thank you! I'll try and add that into the next chapter, hope you like…looking forward to your update ;) __**MsCinammon**__ – painfully grateful for your huge in depth review, and of course I appreciate everything you said, I used to have a plot, kind of, not really…but oh well…I'm working on it. Thank you (and for putting up with my incessant ramblings about books :') __Thank you everyone, I love you all *hugs* ^-^_

**The fool and the fiend**

Ellie perched on the top stand of the quidditch pitch. It was chilly out of the sun but she admired the gleam of it bouncing on the field. She felt relaxed and happy as she watched the players practice, the last couple of weeks had been a whirlpool of emotions and April had proven to be sore days for everyone. Exams were edging nearer. Voldemort was getting stronger and so was everyone's heartache over deaths, fear and the ever looming prospect of war. It was an early Sunday morning, many were either in bed or cramming for exams. Ellie had been studying religiously for weeks whilst excelling in her best subject: Charms. She flourished her wand casually and without uttering a single word, small blossoms erupted from the end and danced around her. She giggled as the beautiful charm fell away as her attention also fell. She clapped eyes on Regulus Black perched on the bottom of the field chatting fiercely with an older Slytherin.

"What's he doing here?" Marlene muttered. Ellie merely shrugged, she hadn't had much to do with Regulus in a while.

"Probably spying on the Gryffindors!" Lily mumbled

"Remind me again why we're watching the quidditch team practice?" Marlene asked crossing her arms and glancing around the pitch ignoring the irrelevant boy

"Exams are soon, we all need to chill out and we're being supportive" Lily smiled

Marlene snorted "pfft, you just want to see Potter playing shirtless" Marlene cackled, Ellie turned to Lily and smirked, she blushed furiously.

"Oh be quiet, besides, Ellie wanted to come too!" Lily argued

"Yeah" Marlene mumbled under her breath, "she just wants to watch Sirius, look Ell, isn't he dreamy?" Marlene giggled fluttering her eyelashes, Ellie glowered at the blonde.

"So much" Ellie deadpanned, she stood abruptly and made for the steps, she was desperate for the girls not to see her blush. Merlin!

"Only kidding!"

"I don't care, I'm just going to chat to someone" she waved her hand dismissively.

She pattered down the steps still watching Regulus and the Slytherin and when she came to a halt at the bottom step watching the tense posture, the defiant faces and the quiet snarls. Ellie recognised the older boy as Richard Nott. Everyone knew the Nott's were all death eater correspondents. They were mean and snide, all of them. Ellie shook her head disapprovingly; Regulus's company was very disappointing. Regulus scowled and began shaking his head boldly; they were obviously in a heated discussion. Nott waved his arms angrily and spat at the 5th years feet. He turned and stropped off. Ellie threw a smile onto her previously sullen face and strolled over to Regulus.

"Hey." She smiled warmly and perched beside him

"Hi." His voice was gruff and dismissive, the cold tone made Ellie recoil nervously.

"Friend of yours?" Regulus looked up and stared at Ellie in annoyance, "how have you been?"

"Do you care?" he snarled

"Of course!" she grinned "So…"

"…my brother is watching us" he cut in blandly. Ellie glanced up at the hovering players, she saw James yelling instructions, his bare chest toned and shining with perspiration.

"WILL YOU SORT IT OUT! IT'S THE LAST GAME! I REFUSE TO LET THEM WIN!"

She then glanced to Sirius and sure enough, his eyes watched them narrowly, his hair strewn sloppily across his face. She glanced back to Regulus and smiled dimly

"I'm sure he'll live!" she shrugged "So, really, how have you been, we haven't spoken in…"

"…Enjoying your five minutes of fame, Aldern?" Regulus cut in weakly

"My what?" she tapped her wand on her leg awkwardly and smiled at him slightly confused. He smiled sardonically and thrust the newspaper in her hands.

The paper. Again. The 4th page in was yet another article about Elladora Aldern. There had been a few last month, all down to that bloody Clobworth reporter and Rita woman. She shook her head dismissively and scanned the page.

She scoffed before rereading the funny lines "Aldern, heartbroken over the death of her biological parents at the hands of the dark lord and his supporters, reveals that she is going to…" she stopped and burst into giggles "_kill him?!_" she closed the paper and handed back to Regulus. His face was as white as snow and his expression slack

"You shouldn't laugh at that and you shouldn't say things like that either! It'll get you _killed_!" he roared

"I didn't say that. I don't speak to reporters; they just make these things up. You shouldn't take newspapers as gospel." Ellie wagged a finger at him accusingly, she had remembered Lily's wise words the last time the newspaper situation came up.

"The dark lord is powerful and important and he is…"

"He is a murderer and…"

"He is undeniably a prominent figure in our day and age…"

"…and a murderer!" she crossed her arms

"Just be careful, you say it's not true but people _have seen you _talking to people and gossiping and you _will_ get hurt"

"Don't try and threaten me!" she grumbled before twirling around and darting off. Cursing under breath as she went. Evil little slime ball. How could he even think she would accept his disgusting views! How could he support Voldemort! How could he have changed so much, he used to be sweet! She stomped away from the spot and ignored Marlene yelling after her. She strutted away and up towards the castle fed up.

* * *

"Have you seen the paper?" Remus asked as Ellie entered the common room

"Yes. Ignore it." She flopped beside him and helped herself to his chocolate.

"People are starting to believe it." He spoke calmly

"People are stupid."

"Poppy Meyer saw you talking to a journalist in Hogsmeade the other week" he added

"Poppy Meyer is an idiot"

"Poppy Meyer is actually very sweet" he replied shortly. Ellie looked at him quickly before turning back to the fire.

"Poppy Meyer must have…"

"And she knows about Cyrus Aldern. Everyone does."

She sat up abruptly and turned to the prefect "What? How?" she wringed her hands nervously.

He shrugged and popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth, "But I was talking to Poppy…"

"Cyrus Aldern may have been…_bad_" she cringed "…but –" she shook her head confused. "I don't get it! Some people think I want to join Voldemort and kill muggle borns and some think I'm going to try and kill him? What is happening?"

"I don't know, I'm just telling you that you have to be careful, Poppy said…"

"I don't care what she said! You did defend me, didn't you?" she pulled her knees up to her chest and timidly glanced at Remus

He sighed and shrugged

"Oh thanks!" Ellie muttered

"Well, I'm sorry, but hardly any of us know what's going on. The war! You!"

"Me?"

"You're acting strange and Sirius said…"

Ellie groaned, she had noticed people sharing quick looks and glimpses, she knew the marauders must have spoken about her on occasions.

* * *

Ellie startled, she bolted up, cracking her neck and wincing in pain. The common room was only partially lit with a meagre glow from the fire.

"Alright, sleepy head?"

"Why didn't anyone wake me? What time is it? What are you doing here?" she spluttered

Sirius chuckled and put down his newspaper. She glanced at the paper in his lap and grimaced. "Ignore it." He shrugged; he picked up the paper and threw it behind the sofas, earning a satisfactory smile from the groggy Ellie.

"It's hard to ignore it when the paper is painting you to be a crazy Voldemort follower slash eager-Voldemort-killer"

"I don't think there's such thing"

"Sirius!" she whined gently shoving him. A few moments passed before he cleared his throat.

"How's my brother?" he interrupted, his eyes darting around, never resting on Ellie's curious face

"Same as usual. But you should really talk to him."

"And why's that?" he grumbled

"Because he's getting himself in the deep end and I'm pretty sure he won't be able to handle it. You don't want him dead" she explained.

"He chose his side. Besides, I meant: did he say anything to hurt you, or threaten you or…"

"…No, no, nothing" she smiled weakly, he turned back to her and smiled broadly, his eyes were oddly shiny and eager, she felt herself getting lost in them so shook her head gently and grinned at him

"Good, wouldn't want to have to snap his neck." He draped his arm over her shoulder and dragged her into a tight-almost-headlock; she stupidly giggled and smiled up at him from his clutches.

"Feisty one!" she mused.

"I think you mean 'sexy one', 'beautiful one' or '_magical_ one' literally." he laughed goofily at his own ridiculousness

"You're an idiot" she broke from his hold and glanced down and shook her head gently chuckling

It remained silent for a few awkward seconds, she contemplated whether or not to leave or talk or joke…

"Sirius," she began, he eagerly glanced at her and stared stupidly awaiting for her continuation. She sighed and scoffed gently, "I can't believe I'm actually doing this." she murmured.

"Doing wha-" Sirius stopped, Ellie fidgeted over to him and looked innocently into his eyes before edging closer and bringing her face closer to his. He just continued to stare dumbstruck. She ignored this and leant in, bringing her lips to his. Her lips closed on his and before she could pull away or actually do something, his lips responded, he kissed her softly. She opened her lips a little wider, as an invitiation. But he pulled away. He held her at arms length and gawped her, perplexed, not uttering a single word. She felt ridiculous. She blinked at him and bit her lip acknowledging her complete and utter senselessness. He cocked his head to the side peeking at her peculiarly. Still silent.

* * *

She leapt off the sofa and shuffled for literally a second before throwing him a quick apologetic look and scampering off to her dormitory. Her heart felt like it was going to thunder out of her chest as she stumbled up the steps, stopping at her door. She clutched her head and smacked it against the wall twice before letting the stupid tears well up in her eyes. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she grumbled childishly. She wiped her disgusting tear ridden, hot cheeked face and adjusted her hair before tip toeing into her room. She glanced around the room noting her roommates were all fast asleep. She sighed and hiccupped, she clambered into bed and shook her head aggressively.

"Jesus Christ Ellie, you are SUCH an idiot! Why did you do that?" she murmured to herself angrily. She turned her face into the pillow and whined quietly at her own foolishness. His face. His face was horrified. Why did she have to do that?

**A/N: Sorry if the ending made you want to punch me. As I was writing it I thought 'no I cannot do that!' but meh…I did :3 I don't have much to say about this...I have no emotions. **

**Going away next week so if you guys update your stories, I will read them as soon as I get back, yay! :D**


	36. Running and hiding

_Yay! Cute reviews, thank you kindly! __**Happypanda19 **__– oh I know, she never has much luck, I feel like I'm awful to her, hehe :3 __**Spottedmask12**__ – I know, could you imagine how awkward that would be…ugh, second-hand embarrassment I have for dearest Ellie. __**Professor McGonagal**__ – awh thank you, i'm glad you like it! :D __**Ellinise**__ – Awh, I think Sirius and Ellie are perfect for each other – they're both so confusing and frustrating, hehe, hey, come for a rant or whatever :D __**Thymara**__ – hello! :D thank you so much for the lovely review :3 Thank you everyone who read and liked it x_

**Running and hiding**

As Ellie hopped down the remaining steps, her jolly hum fell to heavy breathing - she saw the familiar locks of black hair exiting the great hall, but what made it painfully worse, was that his arm was draped around a 5th year Hufflepuff. He was clad in his quidditch uniform and his other hand clasped around his broomstick. God, he was good looking. Ellie rolled her eyes and decided it was best to scarper.

She wasn't ignoring Sirius exactly. She just wasn't talking to him. Or interacting with him. Or staying in the same room with him for more than a second. Okay, maybe it was slightly avoiding like. She looked to the right and then to the left and decided to thunder down the corridor to her right. Her heart raced. It was too embarrassing the other night. He caught her earlier sneaking out of her dorm and demanded to speak to her, but Ellie managed to swivel around that predicament: 'I need to see McGonagall!' she would yell. Which wasn't particularly true.

She bolted into the door closest to the almost-run-in. She obviously wasn't paying attention as when she entered and blinked a couple of times, she realised she was most definitely in the boys lavatory. A 1st year Slytherin yelped and a 7th year by the urinal winked. She shuddered and began easing out of the door backwards, slowly and quietly, hoping to not draw any more attention, she should've known that would never happen.

"Aldern?" a snide voice came

"Crap." She whispered under her breath. Macnair. He smirked at her, his buddies by his side. They say girls can't go to the bathroom alone…

"Anything in the paper recently?" he asked to no one in particular but still smirking dangerously at the now very apprehensive girl. She was such an idiot. She should have at least looked where she was going? What if Sirius came in here? Gosh, she was such an idiot. She internally ridiculed herself for her foolishness yet again.

Ellie merely rolled her eyes.

"We don't like what you've been saying about the dark Lord" Rosier growled

"I haven't been saying anything…" she trailed off. That wasn't true. She had obviously outwardly mocked the so called dark lord. Her eyes fell from the boys faces.

She rushed in her explanation before they could attack - "I don't care about Voldemort, okay? I don't 'want his power'" she emphasised "how does my wanting to find out about my past equal to 'let's kill Voldemort?'" she screeched. The papers had been enthusiastic about painting her to be Voldemort's biggest enemy as well as a keen follower. They contradicted themselves, but this obviously allowed both sides of the wizarding world to hate her.

"We don't care about that, we all know you won't be able to beat him, us or succeed in the war. You're a fool if you think you can. What we don't like is what you are saying!" Macnair barked

"I'm only telling the truth, but it doesn't mean I want to-"

"Shut it!" he yelled swaggering over to Ellie. He pushed her back against the wall roughly and gripped her wrist. He brought his mouth to her ear and whispered harshly into it. "You don't know what we could do to you Aldern, you don't know…" he closed his other hand around her waist "what I could do" he trailed his hand upwards tracing over her body until his hand came to her face. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest, her mind twirled and whirled, and her brain froze and screamed in shock.

This is when she wanted Sirius. This is when she _needed_ him.

As if her prayers had been answered, his typical rough voice filtered into the air.

"If you want to keep that hand, Macnair, I'd suggest you let her go."

"Black to save the day" Macnair chuckled, throwing Ellie's wrist down and backing off

"Ellie isn't a damsel in distress. She doesn't need me saving her" Sirius grumbled, Ellie looked over to him, his face glowering with anger and hatred, he caught Ellie's eye and nodded professionally, "I just think it would be better if I were to beat you up than her. She's a fierce one. You've read the papers haven't you?" his cocky tone seemed to silence Macnair, his snide mouth closed before issuing a disgusting retort. Sirius smirked triumphantly.

He strolled over to the sink and held his hand out to Ellie. Her body was still wearily squashed against the wall, petrified and feeling like a complete fool. She ignored his hand and jolted from the wall. She straightened her tie and adjusted her skirt, before throwing a nasty glare at the Slytherins and strutting towards the door.

"Your threats, Macnair, are pathetic." she growled.

"Just remember what I said, yeah?" he snarled

She tumbled out of the door and dashed along the hallway, scuttling towards the entrance hall and plummeting from the castle.

* * *

"Ellie, please, come on! Talk to me!" His voice grew louder, blissfully unaware of the students turning and watching. Her face turned red as she scurried from the castle. She ran out, not entirely sure where she was going. Why was she always running and hiding? She thundered towards the quidditch pitch, secretly knowing he would follow and secretly liking it.

"I want to help you." She stopped only momentarily, to ponder what he could have been talking about. "I'm worried you're going to get hurt – Ellie!" his voice grew annoyed. "Ellie, what was that about? Why were you in there? Ellie!"

She stopped on the pitch, completely ignorant that her feet had been moving her further and further onto the green field.

"Please."

She turned slowly, avoiding his stormy eyes. She was afraid. No denying it.

* * *

"Will you look at me!" he shouted

"No." she replied meekly

"You can't ignore me forever, Elladora!"

"Oh yes I bloody well can!" she growled back. He sighed and stormed over, closing the gap between them "Ell, please." His voice was softer but still bursting with exasperation.

"I made a complete fool of myself, so I'd rather have a couple of weeks to wallow in my own self-pity, if you don't mind!"

"You shouldn't wallow"

"Well when you do what I did, you'll realise that wallowing is good!" she snapped glancing up into his eyes. He grinned down at her

"You straightened your hair again? I preferred it curly" he casually offered picking up a lock and twirling it gently.

"I don't style my hair according to you Sirius Black!"

"Calm down!" He cackled "Besides," he started seriously "we really, really need to talk, so I'd appreciate it if you stop looking at the floor" he put his hand on her chin and titled her face up to look at him. His eyes softened almost immediately and his grinned melted into more of a shy smile. "Much better."

She huffed unattractively and pulled from him, she strolled to the stands and boisterously climbed up until reaching the furthest seat. He of course, followed. He sat beside her silently, throwing his broom to the floor and fiddling with his quidditch uniform.

"About the other day," he started, she groaned "It's really not that big of a deal" she snorted "really, I mean, I'm flattered" she whined, he laughed. "Ellie, it was…nice-"

"Nice? Oh god, I'm an embarrassment to human beings. Look I'm sorry, I misread some stuff, I was tired and feeling down and I went to kiss…"

"…you DID kiss me…"

"…more of a peck…"

"…I kissed back…" he included. She fell silent. He did, didn't he?

"Can we just forget about it?" she moaned childishly

"I don't _want_ to forget about it!" he insisted resting a hand on her knee, she recoiled and leapt up.

"Well I do. So shush now." She started pacing before him; he watched her carefully smiling at her hazardous hand movements "it's done. It's over. You have a game to focus on. I have exams. Let's all just pretend nothing is wrong in our lives, can we please, please, please do that?" she asked hopefully.

He rubbed his forehead thoughtfully, sighing then nodding apprehensively. "Ell, that's not all I wanted to talk to you about"

She continued to strut along the stands. "Yes?"

"I'm kind of worried for you. What did Macnair and Rosier…" he trailed off, slightly embarrassed

"Worried? Don't worry Sirius" she droned, "I didn't shag them if that's what you're worried about." She rolled her eyes and stopped before him

"I wasn't thinking that! I know you wouldn't…wouldn't do...What were you doing in there? With them?"

"Hiding."

"From me?"

She scoffed, of course she was. "No."

"What did they say to you?"

"Not much" she shrugged

"ELLIE!"

"Just to tell me to stop pissing off Voldemort" she waved her hand dismissively

"I thought it might have been that" he grimaced, he rubbed his chin nervously and groaned at her ignorance. "This is bad. You have to be careful. He's dangerous. It's dangerous out there. Jesus Christ are you ever going to think!" he scolded.

Her face crumpled slightly.

"I just meant…" he didn't know how to continue, obviously. And she didn't know how to respond. It was a difficult subject to talk about. The last couple of months had made Ellie entirely infamous and unpopular, what could've been said?

"I'm sorry." He breathed gently. He climbed up and clumsily pulled her into a hug "It's just, they blame you." He pulled away and handed her a piece of parchment. "I intercepted it from a bunch of Slytherins" he explained as she unscrunched the wad of browning paper.

_'He blames her. The Aldern bitch. He's not happy. But Malfoy's been recruiting more. That of course isn't making up for the humiliating ridicules from that easy whore. The news isn't good.'_

"Sloppy." She simply replied, she screwed up the paper and swallowed back the slight fear growing in her throat. "What happened to you thinking he was stupid?"

"That was last year, Ellie! Things are getting worse. Muggleborns are dropping out, murders, and muggles being tortured. Burning buildings, infiltration, backstabbing. A lot of shit, basically." He droned on, his angered tone turning back to his normal lazy character as if he were just reeling off usual daily occurrences.

"People are blaming you" he looked at her guiltily "Nearly everyone knows about Cyrus Aldern. His dark tendencies, he was a pureblood who turned – "

"Dark? And what, people think I'm turning dark? Please!" it didn't bother her like it should have, it wasn't the truth. "The bad guys hate me, now the good guys? I'm beyond popular.

"It's not all bad, Ell, I don't hate you" He smiled and pulled her back into the hug. He laid his chin on her head and wrapped his long arms around her body, stroking her back soothingly. She hated it. He was too condescending.

"I don't need your pity!" she snapped "besides, are you a good guy or bad guy, it's always been tough for me to tell!" her eyebrows rose as she so very rudely jumped down his throat.

"You know what, I couldn't give a shit if you're going to act like such a bitch!" he growled, he stepped towards the seats and grabbed his broom, he mounted it and gracefully hovered there momentarily.

"I'm sorry" she uttered quietly, rubbing her eyes and feeling the wetness drip from them.

"I'm just trying to help you, you daft cow" he retorted, obviously nervous from her crying. "Come on, don't cry."

"I'm not!" she hiccupped.

He hovered there, silently watching her. The tears spilled from her eyes, he didn't like seeing her like that. Who would? "Sirius." She sniffed, scared, heartbroken, in pain.

"Ell." He simply whispered before clambering off his broom messily and grabbing her into a tight hug and letting her nuzzle into his arm. "I'm sorry. I'm just…just worried." He rubbed her back soothingly. This time, she didn't hate it. "Try not to snot on the uniform though. Girls die over this look." He chuckled, a statement that would normally ruin the atmosphere, but Ellie just laughed into his chest.

**A/N: Guys, guys, guys! I'm so excited, I break up for summer holidays on Friday and eep! This gives me six weeks to continue writing this story (as well as my other ones I'm planning), to read new fanfics and re-read my old favs! I also get to complete an awesome art project, I'm so excited! (I'm such a loser.) yay for summer! Plus – weather here in England is…whoa. :D fun! This chapter is fairly long and a bit dialogue-y but oh well :) Let me know what you thought of this chapter and feel free to message me whenever, i'm always around and ready to chat to you lovely people! :D ~ K**


	37. A perfect time to talk about him

_**MsCinnamon**__ – thank you for the review, I'm glad you think it's picking up pace a little. And I agree, re-reading, I realised it did sound a bit dodgy. If anything ever bugs you just tell me, that goes for everyone, okay, I appreciate it :)xx Thank you __**Krikanalo**__ – I made silly mistakes, my bad :/ hopefully this chapter is better punctuation wise :') __**Ellinise**__ – ah my loyal reviewer ;) glad you updated your story and I'm also glad you liked mine, and ah don't worry, Ellie will be fine with Sirius around :3 ehehe. __**Guest**__ – Thank you! :D_

**A perfect time to talk about him.**

She often thought about love. Like, what did it really mean? Was there any real definition? If love was giving someone the last cauldron cake, then Sirius did _not _love her. If love was letting someone win a game of Gobstones, then Sirius didn't love her. If it was glancing at someone in awe and treating them beautifully and calling them sweet names, then in no way did Sirius Black love her. Sure he called her 'love' but when he did, the tone dripped with malice.

She shook from her philosophical moment and glanced from each Slytherin player, to each Gryffindor player. Tension was in the air for every single person. The last game of the year and even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were choosing sides and shouting leers at the 'enemy'.

Her eyes fell to Sirius, naturally. She thought back to her intense subject of love and then to their numerous interactions.

* * *

_You confuse me all the time, Sirius._

Admittedly, he did look nice in his quidditch get up.

_I don't know if you're going to be on my side, whenever things go wrong. And that's what scares me most._

_I'll always be on your side Elladora, unless you give me a reason not to be. _

It was hard trying to decipher Sirius Black. He was a confusing one and as he swaggered over to the stands, he grinned menacingly at Ellie and threw her a cheeky wink.

She didn't melt. Or her heart didn't flutter, that was just Sirius' normal behaviour.

She came to a conclusion. One she had been at multiple times: She didn't love him. She didn't. She liked the company and attention he had given her; but it wasn't true love she felt towards him. He was always mean and blunt, he hurt her feelings and he always copied her charms homework. She thought she liked him, Jesus, she adored his hair and his quidditch skills, but she wasn't sure that she loved him.

They stood there silently watching each other intensively.

He broke the silence with a small chuckle, "Going to wish me luck, darling?"

'Darling'? See, typical Sirius, he called everyone names like that, God, he even called Professor Sprout that.

She smiled softly. "Good luck you complete and utter moron."

"Must you wound me with your vicious words Elladora?"

"Must you confuse me with your devilish good looks?" she replied casually. A twinkle danced in his eyes as he grinned down at her.

A laugh escaped her lips as she gently punched him on the arm "Good luck, try to not fall and die, Sirius." he winked and clapped his hand on her shoulder before turning away and sauntering off to the remainder of the players.

* * *

She enjoyed the banter. She enjoyed the looks he gave her. The looks she gave him. They made her happy to know someone actually paid attention to her. But when she thought of how he looked at other girls like that, or when she thought to all the harsh things he had ever said to her, her heart resumed its normal constant thumping. She shouldn't live in the past. But it's hard to ignore something someone said, especially if they are one of the most important people in your life. She sighed. He was important to her. But did he feel the same way about her?

_You're important Ellie._

Sure, he would _say_ things like that. But when does Sirius Black ever really mean half the things he says, when does Sirius Black ever really feel anything sweet and sentimental towards anything but quidditch, food and his precious Marauders.

* * *

"Do you like him?" Dorcas whispered into her ear. The quidditch game was apparently getting into full swing now, Ellie didn't notice, quidditch was never really her thing. "Like, really like him?" Dorcas asked her lip curled up mockingly, she knew this subject made Ellie cringe a little inside.

She knew she had always found Sirius beyond unbearable but she also knew Ellie had a soft spot for him. A small soft spot. Tiny, in fact. She _didn't love_ him. No matter how many times someone told her different, she knew deep down, she didn't love Sirius Black.

Ellie faced her friend, her eyes darting around agitated at the conversation already, "I really don't Dory, honestly" Dorcas scoffed disbelievingly. Ellie ignored it and continued. "I thought I did. I don't know, maybe a tiny bit, but no, not like like. God, what are we, 12?" she laughed. Dorcas giggled back quietly before recieveing a harsh 'shush' from Marlene. Marlene leapt up and screamed dangerously at Regulus Black, the seeker for Slytherin. Ellie's heart leapt to her moth – she'd hate to be on Marlene McKinnon's bad side, she was dangerous! Marlene sat back down and glanced dangerously at her friends to shut up.

Dorcas snickered. "It's okay to admit it, Ell. I think every female in this school has fancied Sirius at least once or at least acknowledged his good looks. It doesn't make you different or 'higher' if you pretend you don't fancy him"

"Dorcas!" Ellie whined. "Look, me and Sirius, it's weird. We flirt, we fight, we laugh – yeah it seems magical and typically lovey and what not, but no, I am not in love with Sirius Black."

"Okay, Ell." Her tone was disgustingly condescending. Dorcas wouldn't drop it. For now, she may have, but in five months time, it would creep back up and bite her on the butt. Ellie grimaced and unenthusiastically clapped at a goal being scored or someone falling.

* * *

But yes, the Sirius Black and Ellie Aldern dilemma had been a key topic of discussion for the Gryffindors. Ellie would here Marlene discussing it with James and Remus discussing it with Lily and a random 7th year discussing it with another random person. And of course Sirius would laugh and wink suggestively, heightening people's thoughts. The idiot.

But what she often thought: she'd do a lot of things for him, she would try to protect him as much as possible and sure he comforted her and helped her about the Aldern problem, sure he would sit with her and let her cry about failing transfiguration and yes he would let her shout at him and call him awful names when she was upset, but when it truly came down to it, did Sirius actually care about Ellie? Like properly? Like for real, would he protect her in a heartbeat, just like she would.

Most of the times, she would have no doubts about it, of course he would. But sometimes…sometimes Sirius Black was just too hard to decipher, too hard to assume.

She didn't love him. Much…

* * *

"ELLIE WATCH OUT!" Ellie looked up; whoever screamed after her had startled her from her pondering. As she peeked up, she saw the smooth round orb of a bludger flying towards her face.

**A/N: Howdy, quite a short chapter, dedicated more to Ellie being Ellie and over analytical, as always. Please please tell me if parts of the chapter contradict itself, I was going for the 'in denial' and confusion side of love and hate and what not. This story is going on longer than I first expected :/ Having a dilemma with the 'other story' which will never ever make it up on here, obviously. ****Hope you're all have a lovely summer. xx**


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